Through a glass, darkly
by WriterKos
Summary: A Marine's body is found buried in the woods of Langley County. Flogged bodies are found along Route 66. Two cases that will rock the foundations of what is, reveal what was and expose what will come to be. Fic 19 of the Buchanan Series. 2/2
1. A body is uncovered

_**Title: THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY  
>Characters: Everyone and their mother<br>Genre: Drama. Casefile. Torture. Family  
>Rating: FR18.<br>Warning: Violence and torture, we will deal with some sick puppies here. Well, it is a casefile after all. It dabs a little in the dark arts, the fight of good and evils, demons and angels, this kind of stuff. Like that episode of CM where the guy thought he was possessed. That one. Yep. So you are warned.**_

_**Summary**_: A Marine's body is found buried in the woods of Langley County. Flogged bodies are found along Route 66. Two cases that will rock the foundations of what is, reveal what was and expose what will come to be.  
><em><strong><br>Crossover with Criminal Minds**_

Inspired by the N Criminal I S challenge from the NFA website but it won't be entered into the challenge as it does not fit the requirements of it.

A/N: So, the end had to come. I had no idea where I was going when I started writing fanfiction, but the journey was long and extremely satisfying. This will be my (hopefully) last fic in the Buchanan series. I'll finish the ongoing WIPs just because I have to, but RL and academic studies will definitely cut down my writing hours.

And one of my friends is daring me to write an original f**** romance before the year ends. The fact that he's struggling to write his own romance counts, after all, misery loves company and he is definitely one that can't finishes anything alone if there's no person to push him to do it and I'll be studying a lot for TOEFL so I will have to cut my writing times.

So the saga ends here. All secrets will be revealed and we're going back to the pit.

Noraque, this dark story is for you.  
><em><strong><br>Chapter 1: A Body is uncovered**_

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. - 1 Corinthians, 13:12

The past is the beginning of the beginning and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. - H. G. Wells

Langley Oaks Park was a glorious national reserve in Northern Virginia, situated in Fairfax county, which besides housing numerous rare and endangered species of fauna and flora also had the dubious honor of housing one of the most coveted terrorist targets of the world, the most hated and feared agency in the federal letter soup, the headquarters of the CIA.

Yet, while men and women in somber suits marched through its corridors carrying the secrets of their country, Fairfax county boosted more than one million residents, making it a prime location for highly coveted real estate businesses, which slowly were spreading their tentacles throughout the green areas building highly pricey and exclusive homes surrounded by the glorious shade of the trees of the natural reserve alongside the river.

Building permits were rare to get and once achieved, the contractors couldn't contain their glee as they came with their bulldozers, trucks and workers to clear the area to build another high income house which they would certainly sell for millions in a not so far away future.

However, in that fine summer morning, all clearing of the area had to be stopped when one of the bulldozers digging the foundations of a brand new house found something that wasn't supposed to be in that area, which for a long time had been just an old abandoned section of the woods behind the grounds of Langley High School.

"Stop!" The building master screamed to the bulldozer conductor, as he noticed something strange attached to the cutting edge.

The men at work in the building site surrounded the fresh hole which had appeared in front of them as they cleared the path for the bulldozer.

A black plastic canvas had been unburied from the fresh revolved earth and a bony hand was peeking from one of its openings.


	2. In sickness and health

_**Chapter 2: In sickness and health**_  
><em><br>I take you to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness._  
><em><strong><br>Buchanan townhouse  
>Georgetown, DC<br>Three weeks after the wedding.**_

It was the sound of violent vomiting that woke him up. McGee blinked rapidly trying to get rid of the sleepiness from his eyes and the sound repeated, muffled by the closed door of the ensuite bathroom.

He sighed loudly before moving sluggishly on the bed, looking at the hour on the alarm clock by his side table.

It was three fifty-six in the morning.

He moved the duvet away from his body, feeling the goosebumps immediately covering his pj clad legs as he felt a light breeze flowing from the open window. He walked slowly towards the door and leaned forward, touching the closed door with his forehead.

"Joy!" He called out loud enough to be heard at the other side of the door. He heard the sound of the toilet flushing and finally the water running in the sink.

"I'm fine, Tim. Give me a minute." Joy's voice came muffed by the door before she finally opened it and slowly dragged her sorry ass out of the bathroom, falling in an exhausted heap on the bed and moving the duvet slowly to cover her head, shivering lightly under McGee's worried gaze.

"This has been going on for weeks."

"I'm fine."

"No... you're not." McGee turned off the light of the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed, his hand resting on top of the duvet, feeling the light shivering through the thick blankets. "You're not getting better, you're getting worse."

"It must have been the sashimi we've had yesterday. It tasted funny."

He shook his head, "No, it didn't. It tasted exactly the same of the previous week."

Joy uncovered her face just to glare at McGee. "It tasted funny. The smell was different."

"It wasn't. You're imagining things. Are you going to let me ask Ducky to check you out?"

"It's just something I've eaten."

"What if it isn't?" McGee asked, his hand moving to touch her cheek, finding it damp with a fine mist of sweat over her skin. "What if it's something... related to the radiation you've been exposed to?"

"But that was months ago."

"But think: You've been feeling sick, vomiting and having a light fever that has been lingering for days."

"It's just a bug."

"All symptoms fit to what they told us to watch out. You're still under observation for a couple more months. There's no way to predict how the human body would react to the radiation you, Ziva and your mother were exposed."

"But the symptoms would have appeared several weeks ago."

"I'm still calling Ducky coming the morning." He said, turning off the light on the bed lamp, before going around the bed to lay beside her, his arms snaking around her upper body, feeling her light shivering as they both tried to rest.

She soon fell asleep, moaning lightly as her fever went up and down, keeping McGee in a sleepless vigil until the early hours of the morning, as he held his wife of very few weeks in his arms feeling the first tendrils of worry coiling around his chest and slowly squeezing his heart under his ribs.


	3. Ducky makes a housecall

_**Chapter 3: Ducky makes a housecall**_

_**Buchanan townhouse  
>Georgetown, DC<br>Monday morning**_

_**The past is never dead. It's not even past. - William Faulkner **_

"Well my dear, what do we have here?" Ducky said as he entered the bedroom of the Buchanan's household, brought by a distraught phone call by the usual calm McGee very early on Monday. He frowned as he saw the pale figure of Mrs. Timothy McGee laying on the bed glaring at her husband, as he entered the room with an unreadable face.

"So, he finally called you and..."

Whatever she was going to say was interrupted as a new bout of nausea hit her violently so she sat down abruptly, her arms blindly seeking the trashcan strategically posted near her bedside and promptly left whatever was left in her stomach (which was surprisingly little) in it.

"She has been vomiting like that the whole weekend and she has been running a light fever for a couple of days." McGee said it while he observed Joy washing her mouth with a little bit of water from a bottle he had left on her side of the bed. She wiped her mouth and face with a hand towel and turned to them, flapping backwards on her pillows.

"Oh, God kill me now." She moaned, before dragging Tim's pillow and covering her face as the bedroom spun around her.

"How long have you had this fever, my dear?"

Ducky asked as he sat beside her and pointed to the bucket, silently asking McGee to take it away as he took his instruments to start his exams on Joy.

"Four, five days."

"Make it two weeks." McGee said coming out of the ensuite bathroom, bringing now a clean trashcan with himself, leaving it in its strategic position within arm's reach.

"It's not that bad, Tim." Joy said, moving the pillow away from her face and looking at him.

"Yes, it is. You've been running a light fever since the week after we came back from our honeymoon and we went back to duty."

He started going around picking up clothes here and there from the floor and piling them in a chair in the farther corner of the room, unable to sit still as the worry made his stomach burn.

He looks worried at the bed as Joy pushed more pillows behind herself, sitting on the bed so Ducky can check her.

"What other symptoms have you experienced, my dear?"

Joy glances at McGee, who had folded his arms and was now glaring at her, daring her to hide anything from Ducky.

She muttered something too low for Ducky to hear, so he asked her to repeat again, which in turn she said barely in a whisper.

"Nausea, vomiting, headaches and fever, not exactly in this order."

"Exactly the symptoms Dr. Tanaka told us to watch out for when we left Nellis after Maggie's lab explosion." McGee said, still glaring at her.

"But if there was something wrong, I mean..." She looked at McGee who huffed loudly, impatient at her stubbornness. "Listen to me, Tim. If it was something really serious, it would have showed up in our weekly checkouts while we were in Glasgow. We were poked and prodded every single week while we were there for two months, the doctors would have found anything if something was …"

"They weren't as well equipped as the doctors here in DC. They weren't Ducky. And you weren't waking up every single night puking while we were in Glasgow." He said walking nervously in front of their marriage bed and looking nervously at her and at Ducky, who was measuring her pressure now.

Unable to wait, he walked out of the bedroom, muttering over his shoulder.

"I'm getting ready to go to work. You stay home today."

"But I'm fine."

"No, you're not. And Ducky is not finished with you." He said from the door, leaving an aggravated Joy with the gentle doctor, who just observed the tension between the newlywed couple.

Joy sighed and leaned back on the pillows, glancing at Ducky who just let go of the cuff of her upper arm.

"He is right, you know. You're in no condition to be in the field." Ducky said gently as he folded the pressure cuff and put it away, before leaning and touching Joy's neck, looking for any sign of infection on her lymph nodes.

"I've felt worse before and I still went to work regardless of it."

"My dear." Ducky touched her gently, silently asking her to move her neck this or that way. "He is just worried. Please try to see this from his point of view. His brand new wife is not feeling well, possibly due to her exposure to radiation. The same radiation which is slowly and painfully killing his mother-in-law."

"Ducky." Joy said softly, touching Ducky's hand and making him stop his exam. "Please don't."

"Denying it won't make it easier, Joy. Regardless of how much you want to ignore it..." He saw her eyes filling with tears. "...it's an inevitable truth."

"I just..."

She rubbed her fingers slowly in circles over the duvet.

"I don't wanna think about that. We … the kids... we have always joked that she was immortal. The real Highlander. But... now... I don't wanna see her like that."

"Neither does she. But she is aware that her time is short. And that's why she insisted in the big party, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. You've figured it out too, haven't you?" Joy lifted teary eyes to Ducky, smiling as she remembered her wedding party, which had more than two hundred guests and involved all the letters of the Federal letter soup along with the Armed Forces. They had people from FBI, NCIS, USMC, NSA, USAF, just to name a few.

"I think pretty much everyone in that ceremony realized that once she entered the church. I'm proud of you, my dear, but ignoring the problem won't make it disappear. So you'd better prepare your heart for whatever trials life might soon bring to you in this aspect."

"Great." She coughed lightly, and Ducky requested her to turn around so he could hear her lungs.

"Deep breaths, dear."

She obeyed him, letting the good doctor touch the cold stethoscope on her back through the lowered pj top.

"I have to admit that I've been very tired."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I've slept almost the whole Saturday. It's so rare that we get a full weekend off and when we're finally not at work I'm spending my time sleeping like a log instead of enjoying my enthusiastic new husband."

"Enthusiastic, uhm?"

Joy giggled as Ducky squeezed her shoulder.

"Ah, very enthusiastic."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They chatted a little bit more and Ducky prescribed some medicines specially for the nausea and fever, took samples and carefully labelled them to send them for CDC. Due to the nature of the case and the secrecy involved in Maggie's projects with the Pentagon, they couldn't afford to send the samples to the NCIS lab.

Besides, Abby hadn't been read into the program which the Buchanan's clan was deeply involved.

He left the bedroom shortly after he observed her falling asleep, right in the middle of their conversation. He frowned as he saw the signs of tiredness on her face and completely understood McGee's restlessness.

Reaching the living room of the townhouse, he found McGee sitting alone at the big dinner table eating an omelet with his coffee with cream and sugar. For a moment he studied the young man, smiling lightly at what he saw - a man slowly fitting in as the head of a household.

Pity that that house was bound to never be filled with children born out of their flesh and blood, despite their desperate attempts during the last eighteen months.

Ducky sighed as he approached McGee, thinking of that long gone night when he had received a visit from Buchanan, who quietly passed him her quarterly exams and begged him for a second opinion on her condition.

Unfortunately, after several months of controlled ovarian stimulation coupled with intrauterine insemination attempts which had all failed, both McGee and Buchanan decided to take a break from the heartbreaking doctor visits which always ended with a loud no thrown into their faces.

That big dinner table apparently was bound to stay only with two seats taken.

McGee looked up as he sensed the doctor's approach, wiping his mouth in a napkin and standing up.

"So... what's the verdict?"

He fidgeted nervously, the linen napkin being twisted in his hands as he waited for Ducky's words.

"She is running some kind of infection. I don't know its origins yet but it's something worth of investigation." He showed his medical bag, where he had packed this things. "I've took some samples, I'm going to drop them by Dr. Tanaka's office at CDC before going to NCIS this morning. But I'm glad you've called me."

"Thanks Ducky. She's very stubborn, insisting that she would get better to work coming Monday but she's just got worse and worse."

"Yeah. I see." Ducky's trained eyes rested on McGee's face, seeing the tiredness on it. "Tell me, lad. Have you slept at all tonight?"

He smiled ruefully, running a hand over his tired face. "One hour or two. Between her running to bathroom and shivering and moaning as the fever spiked, I really couldn't sleep well. But don't worry, I've worked with fewer hours of sleep under Gibbs' command."

Ducky smiled at that.

"Yes, Jethro sometimes is too zealous in his efforts of closing a case."

He slowly walked to the door, followed by McGee who rushed to put away the dirty dishes and grab his car keys and jacket to follow Ducky.

"Is it okay to leave her alone?"

"She's not staying alone. I've already called her sisters. One of them is already on their way to stay the day." He explained as he locked the door after himself.

"I bet you're glad that they are a big family in a situation like this."

"You have no idea."

Both man kept chatting, McGee led Ducky to his car and waited the good doctor to board before going to his own car.

After a soft horn, both drove in different directions, one for NCIS headquarters and other for the CDC offices, completely unaware of the small sedan parked two blocks away observing the house.

Its single occupant smiled happy with the situation.

The game was about to begin.

The Master would be pleased.


	4. Dead and unburied

_**Chapter 4: Dead and unburied**_

**_"Bring the past only if you're going to build from it." Doménico Cieri Estrada_**

Tony and Ziva were already at work when McGee arrived at the office in a hurry, distraught for being late and for his dear wife being left at home alone.

"Hey, look who's in. We know you're newlyweds but shouldn't you two leave the hanky-panky for the weekend when it's not school night?" Tony said, just to receive a glare from McGee who put his gun and badge in his drawer, without rising to the bait.

"Where's Joy, McGee?" Ziva threw a warning look to Tony, seeing the thunderous mood of their colleague as he kept a closed face and didn't answer Tony's jocose tone.

"She's home sick. She's not coming in today."

"How sick?" Gibbs asked out of the blue, materializing at McGee's side and startling him with his presence. McGee jumped a little but tried to hide it as he answered to Gibbs.

"Her first words this morning were 'Oh, God, kill me now.' Sick, vomiting and with a persistent fever that hasn't come down after the weekend resting. I've finally had Ducky checking her this morning. That's why I'm late, Ducky took longer than I've expected."

"Where is he?"

McGee sighed as he glanced at Ziva and Tony who noticed the worry in him and stood up, approaching the two standing men to have more privacy in the open bullpen.

Once the two other agents got close, McGee explained in a low voice.

"Ducky took the samples he collected from Joy to the CDC."

"Why? Isn't it just a common cold?" Tony asked just to be interrupted Ziva whose eyes became huge as she finally knew what was worrying her friend.

"Nellis."

McGee lifted troubled eyes and nodded, seeing a frown on his colleagues' and on his boss' faces. Ziva became pensive while Gibbs' frown deepened as he considered the repercussions of the situation.

"Does Ducky agree that it might be related to Nellis?"

McGee ran a trembling hand through his hair, a gesture that he had been doing a lot this weekend.

"Yes, boss. That's the first thing that ran through his mind as I've told him that she's been feeling sick. The symptoms fit exactly what Dr. Tanaka told us to expect after her exposure to radiation."

"When will you be sure?"

"I don't know. Ducky said he would request priority but you know how these things are. He'll be back shortly."

"Good. Keep me posted." Gibbs turned to Ziva, "And you, when he's in, you're getting yourself checked out too."

Ziva and Tony looked at Gibbs' serious face, seeing that he wouldn't budge from his decision.

"Why? I'm feeling fine." Ziva folded her arms, aggravated at Gibbs' attitude.

"I'm not taking any chances. You two have been exposed to the same type and amount of radiation. If Joy is showing symptoms only now, I'm not going to wait until you feel sick to get you treatment. Ducky arrives, you get checked out. End of discussion."

With those words, Gibbs left his agents thinking about the situation and went to his desk, answering the phone which was loudly ringing.

"Gibbs."

He heard for a few seconds as whoever was in the other side explained what was happening. He immediately went to his drawer for his gun and badge, indicating that they had a new case. All three agents, seeing his actions, went to their own desks and got ready to rush after him.

He put the phone down and as they had expected...

"Let's go. Dead Marine."

They took their backpacks and followed his hurried steps in silence, each in deep thought about their own worries and fears.

The elevator door closed.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They reached the grounds of the woods behind Langley High shortly after nine, after the trucks and machines were moved away from the site where the body had been found early that Monday.

They approached the site manager who guided them to the place where they found a hole where a tarp bag had been found. They looked at the old corpse wrapped in the blue tarp, as it had probably been decades buried in a shallow grave under a few feet of dirt, leaves and compost.

"We found it as we were cleaning the area for the new developments in the north of the complex. This was a just a bunch of trees and weeds that hadn't been explored for years before my men came here with their machines."

The manager pointed to the hole, as well to the small circle of curious workers who were looking at the tarp.

"Has anyone touched it?"

Gibbs slid the gloves on his hands, pointing to the circle of people and silently ordering the agents to clear the area. Tony and Ziva immediately approached them and herded them away from the crime scene, setting up the perimeter and putting the crime scene tape around the area.

McGee went to the body and immediately started taking photos of the body, as they waited for Jimmy to arrive with the coroner's van.

"No, nobody has touched it. I wouldn't let them." The manager took his NY Knicks hat from his head, running nervous hands over his thinning hair line, wiping away the sweat already accumulated in there.

"Listen, will you take long to move it? I'm in a tight schedule and I still have to clear the rest of the woods here and..."

"We'll be done when..." Gibbs went up to the manager, staring him down with cold blue eyes. "... we're done. We'll keep you posted. Now leave my crime scene."

The manager looked into Gibbs' eyes and gulped. "Ah... okay. Call me when you're done."

He turned around and was leaving when Gibbs asked over his shoulder, his eyes already on the body.

"What made you conclude he was a marine?"

The manager turned around and pointed to the corpse. "My uncle was in the marines in the early eighties. He used to wear the same uniform and … the dog tags are a dead giveaway. No pun intended."

Gibbs glanced at him, dismissing him with a nod of his head before looking at his team, who was already kneeling around the body and studying the corpse.

"None taken."

He approached the corpse and studied it, forever stuck into the grimace of death. It was surprisingly well preserved, as the tarp ended up creating a tight sealed air area which slowed down decomposition, so the bones were still covered with a leathery like skin with a very thin layer of muscle.

"Any idea who is he?"

McGee turned the dog tag up with a pen to look at the inscription in it.

"If those are really his dogtags, he is Staff Sergeant Dylan Knox. According to his files, he was..." McGee checked his iPhone, frowning at the info in it. "He was a supply logistics analyst at the Fort Lee, Virginia. And... he has been been missing since 1983."

That catches Gibbs attention.

"Really?"

"Apparently he was a model employee. Widower. Never absent until one day he simply failed to report to duty. He has never been seen again."

McGee looked up at Gibbs, who had knelt beside the corpse and was using a pen to lift the tarp away from the body.

"Cause of death?"

Ziva shook her head, observing the mummified body.

"If I am allowed to guess, I would say that bullet hole in his forehead is a very probable cause of death."

"Execution style?" Gibbs asked at the same time McGee took a picture of the cranium where Ziva was pointing her gloved finger.

"It looks like it." Tony said, starting to collect soil samples from the dirt around the tarp bag.

Gibbs frowned and looked back, where Jimmy was parking the van right in front of Ducky's Morgan. He saw both men exchanging hellos as they left their cars before heading towards their position.

Both the M.E. and his assistant walked in a hurry towards them, talking in low tones as they approached the crime scene.

"Ducky, glad to see you join us."

"Ah, Jethro, I had some appointments to keep this morning." Ducky nodded at McGee, answering the silent question in his eyes. McGee sighed loudly before going back to the picture taking.

"What do we have here? Fascinating..." Ducky knelt beside Gibbs and donned his gloves, immediately starting his visual examination.

"Any idea how long has he been here, Ducky?" Tony asked as he finished taking samples for Abby's analysis later on.

"It's too early to say anything, Jethro but... If I could guess, I would say it has been at least twenty years."

"Almost as much as he had been missing. Any way we can positively ID him as Staff Sergeant Knox?"

"Besides the dog tags, no. We will need a tissue sample for DNA testing and also his dental records for a positive ID." Ducky said, touching here and there looking for visual clues for cause of death.

Gibbs nodded, standing up and looking around towards the crime scene tape, where the site manager and some of his workers were watching from afar.

"Prepare the body to transport. Ziva, you with me. We're talking with the witnesses."

She stood up and was getting ready to follow the Boss away when McGee's cell beeped and he looked at the incoming info.

"Oh."

Gibbs stopped and looked at him, seeing a deep frown at McGee's face at whatever he was reading.

"What?"

"Boss, I think you should see this." McGee stood up and looked at Gibbs, rushing to his side with whatever was in his hand. He gave him his IPhone showing a picture on it.

Gibbs glanced at it once, before looking at McGee with a glare.

"What's the meaning of this?"

"Boss. Staff Sergeant Knox was a single father. He had a three year old daughter, Lorelei Knox, who also disappeared on the same night her father did. Neither of them were ever seen again."

Tony stood up, looking around the ample woods where they were standing, as well as the workers walking beyond the crime scene line. Everywhere they looked, there were trees, bushes and low grass, places which were perfect to hide a tiny body.

"We have to expand our perimeter. I believe we have another body to look for." Gibbs said, looking down to the shot of dark haired man in a uniform holding a smiling toddler in his lap.


	5. Bloody route 66

_**Chapter 5: Bloody route 66**_

**_BAU Headquarters_**  
><strong><em>Quantico, VA<em>**  
><strong><em>Same morning<em>**

_The past is strapped to our backs. We do not have to see it; we can always feel it. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960_

"Good morning, my darlings." Penelope Garcia said as soon as she entered the BAU briefing room, smiling brightly at the agents sitting around the table.

"Hey baby girl, looking sparkly this morning." Derek Morgan commented as he saw the huge rings on her hands and the African style necklace she was wearing over her baby blue top with butterflies handpainted on it.

With her green skirt and bright red hair and pale skin, she was a true rainbow between the sober looking Federal agents in Quantico.

"Thanks for coming, we're about to start." SSA Aaron Hotchner said as he watched Penelope sit down between Prentiss and Rossi. Reid and Morgan were already at the table, eager to hear his exposition on the case.

"We've had four deaths in the last two years. One in Arizona, another in New Mexico, then Oklahoma and the last one in Illinois. All of different social backgrounds, skin tone and ages. Absolutely no matches."

"Here it says the first victim was Georgette Lewis, diner owner, 48, separated, in Williams, AZ. Nobody could find a fault in her, her whole life was her diner which she had ruled with an iron fist for the last fifteen years." Morgan read the papers in his hands, going through the crime scene pictures.

Hotch turned to the plasma, showing the next picture. "The next victim was killed in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mary Orwell, 51, owned an esoteric shop where she sold fake pictures of alien landings on the desert and stuff like that."

Penelope took over the exposition. "Terry Richards, 59, was a postal worker living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. No family, no friends, no one to claim his body. The last one was a bartender in Springfield, Illinois. Julia Adams, 38, had a boyfriend but he only reported her missing four days after she went missing."

"By then, she was already dead." Rossi commented, looking at the gruesome pictures of the crime scene.

"What is the connection?"

Hotch signed to Garcia, who changed the snapshots of the four victims to the crime scene photos on the plasma. All agents cringed at the bloodied pictures.

"They were all flogged to death." Hotch said.

"Flagellation has its historical origins in the Near East. There are ancient reports of it being applied at young men in Sparta during their masculinity tests. It has been a common practice in Jewish and Roman cultures during many centuries, always with very strict laws about how and when it should be applied. It's still a common practice among Muslim communities nowadays, being deemed acceptable under the Sharia law." Reid almost immediately started spouting information, as his eyes flickered from the file in his hands to the murder board.

"Why that? Why flogging? Wouldn't it be easier to shoot them or kill them with a knife?" Prentiss asked, confused at the M.O. of the unsub.

"The purpose of a flogging is not only physical but also mental torture. The person who is being flogged suffers with the anticipation of the whip touching the flesh, but depending on the ability of the torturer or the type of instrument used for the flogging, it is possible to inflict the maximum pain with the minimum damage." Reid added, almost like an afterthought.

"So he wanted them in pain, not dead?" Morgan leaned his chair back, his balance precarious on his chair but not falling back.

"Probably. According to the M.E. reports, they were kept for three days during which they endured severe beatings, but they were killed only on the evening of the last day." Hotch said, studying his agents' reactions to his briefing.

"Why didn't anyone pick up on the pattern before?" Rossi was still confused why they would pick that case.

"The murders were too spread out. Time and geographically wise. The unsub would make a kill and take months before he killed again." Hotch said, looking at the plasma with his most serious face.

"By them the trail would be cold, and as it was in another state several miles away..." Prentiss added.

"No one thought of looking at the next state's casefiles to see if they could find a similar incident until now." Rossi said, biting on his pen cap as he studied the plasma.

"Three months is a long time between killings. Why does he wait so long?" Prentiss leaned on the table, looking at her colleagues trying to make a point.

"He's not waiting. He's hunting. He's meticulous and overly prepared for each killing." Reid said, looking at the crime scene photos. "Hey guys. Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Illinois. They are all along the Route 66. Have you noticed that?" Reid lifted his eyes from the reports, his brilliant mind already working on a geographical profile. "Is there any chance he is targeting people along the Route 66 ?"

"We've noticed that too. But that's not the reason why we were called in." Hotch shook his head. Trust Reid to be the person who could spot the Route 66 connection.

"Why was this case brought to us then?" Morgan asked.

Hotch put another picture on the plasma, showing the bloodied back of the latest victim. All agents became mute as they stared at it, feeling horror slowly creeping up their spine.

"The latest victim's ME found strange patterns on some wounds in the lower back and, after a little investigation, that's what he had found. At that time, the rumors of a killer on Route 66 was slowly creeping up and he requested for the files on the other victims. The same carving was found on the other victims as well, disguised by the welts on their backs. The carving was done while they were alive. The welts on top of it are post mortem. Once he saw that, he contacted the detective on the case, who called us."

"Oh my God. Does Buchanan know?" Reid asks, looking horrified at the lower back of the victim.

"Not yet. You, Rossi and I are going to NCIS right now to break the news. Prentiss and Morgan are flying to Illinois to check the latest crime scene. Wheels up in thirty."

They closed down their folders and iPads, eager to get going.

"Garcia, I need you to..."

"... Dig up all the dirty on the four victims, looking for anything that might have been missed by the locals and try to find a connection between them." Garcia said already standing and packing her laptop away.

"Exactly."

"I'm already on my way, my charming Lord and Liege." She bowed to him, before leaving the room in a hurry leaving a cloud of lavender in her wake.

"Remember to have her drug tested once the case is closed." Hotch muttered as he stared at her retreating back.

Morgan grinned lightly and followed a snickering Prentiss to the bullpen, to get their go bags so they could go to the airport, leaving Rossi and Reid with Hotch looking at the victim's pictures.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rossi asked Hotch, pointing to the disfigured corpses on the screen.

"It means that her past might have finally caught up with her."

"And it's asking for retribution." Reid said in a somber tone.

All three agents stared without speaking at the lower back of the latest victim, the bloodied welts made by the cat'o'nine tails almost making impossible to read the message carved in the torn flesh of the victim.  
><em><strong><br>"Where is the Servant?"**_


	6. Open House

_**Chapter 6: Open House**_

The doorknob of the Buchanan's townhouse turned slowly and eager light steps were heard on the dark linoleum as a thin figure kicked court shoes off and climbed the stairs in a hurry.

Delicate fingers touched the handrail as she went upstairs, looking here and there at the pictures on the wall as she climbed to the first floor.

Turning in the corridor, she smiled at the children's handmade drawing in bright colors in a honor display on a simple light wood frame, with a written message with bright red finger paint "I love Grandma and Grandpa".

She approached the master suite and leaned against the door frame, slowly turning the doorknob unwilling to make any noise and waking up the slumbering figure under the duvet in bed.

She took a paper bag filled with air and held it in her hand, smiling as she saw the duvet piled up around pillows and a dark haired head lying amid them. She was going to blow the bag over the sleeping figure when she heard the unmistakable noise of a gun being unlocked.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you." Joy said in a low tone, without moving from her bed.

"I can't believe you still sleep with a gun under your pillow. Does Tim know that?" Temp moaned, sitting heavily on the corner of the bed and making the ailing agent moan at the sudden movement.

"Yes he does. And he also sleeps armed." She struggled to sit down and smiled faintly to her sister, who was cheekily fingering her paper bag. She put the lock back into her Glock and slid it under her pillow. "And that's an old trick. You should try a new one."

"Old but effective. I was able to startle Hope twice last year."

"Let me guess, she was dreaming of her latest beau." Joy said leaning against her pillows, feeling a fresh wave of nausea rolling all over her. She gulped and closed her eyes, swallowing down the bile and feeling her arms shivering as her body struggled to regulate her temperature.

No way she was going to throw up again.

Besides, there wasn't anything left in her stomach.

"Sis, you look like crap."

Joy opened one eye just to find Temp's concerned gaze on her face.

"It's just some kind of bug. A nasty, insistent and irritating bug. Now come on, help me take a shower. I'm.. urgh... all sticky."

Joy moved the duvet away and accepted Temp's support to stand up, eager to freshen up from the fever sweat her body was all covered in. She stood up quickly, moving her head to look at her sister and realized that leaving the bed was a big, big mistake.

"Whoa!"

Temp rushed to help her, hugging her sister to stop her from toppling over like a felled tree. She still tried to use her arms to regain some balance, but managed only to knock the lamp on her bedside table over.

Both sisters stood there, awkwardly holding each other, one shaking with the scare and the other completely at loss why she was so lacking coordination.

"I think a shower is out of question, then." Temp muttered.

"Not really. Remember skinny dipping in Jack's lake?"

Both sisters looked at each other and grinned, before slowly moving to the bathroom and closing the door.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Two hours later, the nausea seemed to have faded and both sisters were downstairs in the kitchen, ransacking the cupboards after food.

Temp grabbed some dinosaur cereal and milk and poured herself a bowl, sitting at the table with a nice cup of coffee.

She happened to glance at Joy's plate and she couldn't avoid grimacing at the strange mixture her sister was mixing up to put on her toast.

"What's that?"

Joy licked her fingers as she spoke. "Tuna, mayo and brie cheese. It tastes great. Wanna try?"

She offered the toast covered with the disgusting mix, the strong scent of the tuna mixing with the sharp scent of the brie filling the kitchen.

"No thanks. I think I'll pass." She shivered as she saw Joy putting a thick layer of the mix on the toast and devouring it with huge bites, moaning at its taste. "Are you sure you should be eating that? Maybe just dry toast and some tea would settle better in your stomach."

Joy waved her hand, drinking more orange juice and preparing another toast for herself.

"I hate dry toast. And I'm hungry, I don't know why I just felt the need to eat fish. Could you check if we still have some salmon fillets in the freezer?"

Temp stood up with a frozen smirk on her face and looked in the cold chamber, finding the offending piece of fish there.

"Yep."

"Put it in the fridge so it will unfreeze until we get back."

"Get back? Where do you think you're going?"

"To work. I'm feeling better."

"No. You're temporarily feeling better. And Timothy told me to babysit you today."

"I'm fine now."

"You still look like crap. Maybe you should stay over or I'll be forced to call mom's full time nurse."

"Who?"

"Eva Swan, mom's new nurse."

"What happened with the old one?"

"Something happened with her nephew, so she had to go back to Atlanta. Eva started working with mom two weeks ago. She came with great references."

"Uhm... good for mom, I guess. Now look at me, I'm fine." Joy pointed at herself, making Temp smile as her sister had a little bit of mayo on her chin, leftover from her hurry to eat her toast.

"You almost head dived in the bedroom a few hours ago. You're in no condition to be in the field."

"I'm not going to the field. I'll be a good agent and stay on desk duty." She stood up and, walking before the fridge, found the offending mayo on her reflection and took a kitchen napkin to clean it up.

"You're in no condition to drive around. What if you feel sick or faint again?" Temp whined, knowing that Timothy would get pissed off if she left her sister drive in the condition she was in.

"I'm not driving. You are."

Temp rolled her eyes as Joy left the kitchen softly whistling, going upstairs to get her gun and badge.


	7. Invisibility cloak

_**Chapter 7 : Invisibility cloak**_

Buchanan entered the bullpen after Temp dropped her off at the Navy Yard before driving to the Hoover Building and smiled as she saw Tony, Ziva and McGee hard at work at their desks. Her arrival was noted by Tony, who smiled at her.

"Hey, shouldn't you be in bed?" He asked, smiling as she put a boiling cup of cappuccino in his hand.

"I find it fascinating how even the most innocent comment coming from your lips can sound like a come-hither line." She said smiling, turning to Ziva and offering a cup with her favorite tea.

"I thought I told you to stay home today." McGee said, staring down at her in a surprisingly accurate imitation of Gibbs' stern tone.

"But I'm feeling fine now. The dizziness is gone and I was able to eat and it hasn't come up again saying hi. I'm fine as long as I stay in desk duty." She said as she offered him his favorite coffee flavored with cream and sugar.

He took the coffee but didn't drink from it; he kept staring down at his wife, studying her face as she waited patiently for him to examine her and find her able to report for duty or not.

He finally sighed and rolled his eyes, making her smile at him as she went to her own desk, booting her computer.

"What do we have today?"

She asked as her computer ran the antivirus, turning to the plasma as they put the pictures on it.

"Staff Sergeant Dylan Knox, 31, widower. He went AWOL as he failed to report to duty one Monday on November 1983. Has never had any complains from his former officers. Model employee. Nobody had anything bad to say about him."

McGee finished his exposition with Knox's enlistment picture.

Ziva stood up, eager to start. "But apparently someone had something against him because he was killed with a bullet in his brain."

"Execution style?"

"Apparently. Ducky is still checking. Of his former work colleagues, only two remain in US soil and alive. Other two are dead, natural causes - one a heart attack and the other of pulmonary embolism, after free diving in Bahamas.

"Local M.E. said he didn't decompress correctly." McGee muttered as he read the autopsy report in his screen.

"Where are the living ones?" Joy asked, going through the files on her desk, trying to put some order on the papers.

"One is in San Diego, California. He's a SEAL trainer. The other is an aide for a Colonel Clive in Pensacola, Florida." Tony said.

"Air Force?"

Ziva nodded as Tony rushed to grab the clicker from McGee's hand, who glared at his friend. Tony smoothed out his jacket and grinned.

"We also have another mystery." An old picture of the sergeant with a young toddler in a red dress appeared on the screen.

Joy stood up to look at the picture. "Who is she?"

"Knox's daughter. He was a widower and she disappeared around the same time her father did."

"Did you find her body?"

McGee shook his head, the same sad look in Ziva's and Tony's faces as they looked at the picture. "We have canvassed the entire crime scene and we left two forensic teams going with a fine comb through the debris in the entire park. The scene has been greatly compromised by the heavy machinery and several people walking around but still no sign of another shallow grave was found."

"Oh." Joy whispered as her mind went through statistics. "That changes things."

"Why?" McGee turned to her, his arms folded as he saw a deep frown appearing in his wife's face. She lifted worried eyes to him.

"If it was just a murder, it would be a kind of investigation. If this is a murder followed by a toddler kidnapping, that's something completely different and... the chances of finding anything now - after so many years gone by - are slim to none."

"Why do you say that?" Ziva asked, noticing a saddened light in Joy's eyes as she looked at the picture in the plasma.

"Because even in the remote chance she is alive, she is what we consider in kidnapping cases _invisible_."

"What do you mean?"

"She doesn't _know _she is missing. She grew up in a different environment, home, name, family, unaware of her past. Her only living relative is dead and the trail has gone cold because there was no one out there searching for her. She fell in a crack of the system and there's nothing to do."

"So you're saying that we can't find her." Ziva said, unhappy with the prospect.

"No..." Joy shook her head, looking at her with serious brown eyes. "I'm saying that there is the very real possibility that she _doesn't want_ to be found. She has her own life now. That's ancient history. One that she doesn't remember. And we're saying all that in the faint hypothesis she is alive."

"What are her chances of being alive?" Tony asked, looking at the chubby toddler smiling at the camera.

"Ah... it depends on the type of kidnapping we're talking about. If it is a stereotypical kidnapping, it's a 40% chance she has been killed within the first few weeks of her kidnapping."

"Damn." Tony muttered.

"Of the _invisible _cases, at least 90 % remain unsolved."


	8. DNA never lies

_**Chapter 8: DNA never lies**_

Gibbs got out of the elevator with a CafPow in his hand and stared at the closed door of Abby's Lab with a frown.

Abby never locks her door, letting the music blast in shockwaves through the walls and the corridors as living tentacles of her personality.

But today the door was closed and that worried deeply the marine in Gibbs.

"Abbs!" He knocked firmly at the door, listening for any sign of duress in the other side. Only Abby's usual music floated out. "Abbs!"

He heard the sound of the lock turning and soon Abby's pale face appeared in the gap of the door, her huge green eyes staring at Gibbs with concern and a tiny bit of fear.

"Are you alone?"

"Yes, I am."

"Good." She opened the door and motioned for him to come in, locking the door once he was inside of her inner sanctum.

"What's wrong?" Gibbs was getting uncomfortable with Abby's secretive manner, as she glued her back to the locked door and sighed deeply, showing a nervousness that was totally incongruent with the usual confident bubbly woman he was used to.

"I swear, Gibbs, I had no idea."

"No idea of what?"

"I ran the tests four times, just to be sure. Because when it beeped the first time, I really thought Major Spectrometer had messed up. Big time. But he didn't. So I did the test again. And the result came up again. And then I thought I had a contaminated sample and used a brand new one I hadn't touched yet... and bang. Here it is again."

"Abby!" Gibbs took the babbling woman by her shoulders and stopped her nervous speech, making her look at him with those huge green kohl lined eyes.

Once he had her full attention, he asked more calmly. "What are you talking about?"

Abby sighed, motioning to her computer with her hand. Gibbs let go of her shoulders, so Abby went to her work desk where she started typing in a frantic pace.

"Ducky gave me tissue samples so I could try running a DNA sample of our dead sergeant. He also told me to verify if we could make a positive ID comparing his dental works to the ones in his file."

"Were you able to get a positive ID?"

"Yes. But not only that."

"What else?"

"Patience, Gibbs. Genius cannot be rushed." She said with small smile, the first since he came to see her. He smiled back as he saw her typing and two dental works appeared on the screen.

"What's that?"

"The one on the top is the latest dental x-ray from the late Sergeant Knox. Apparently, he had to do an emergency surgery due to a root canal on his left side here." She pointed to the offending tooth with her mouse.

Gibbs' eyes went to the lower x-ray, finding the same alteration in it. "Our John Doe?"

"Yes. As you can see, it's a match." She clicked something in her computer and the two x-rays floated one over the other, until they were juxtaposed showing an exact match.

"It's a positive ID."

"Yes, but that's not all."

"What else have you got, Abs?"

Gibbs went around her work desk to stand beside her a she went to work on her computer again.

"There was some weird fiber stuck to the dead sergeant's clothes, specifically his chest and arms, which I think are some kind of polymer that I'm still trying to match but Ducky also gave me this."

A series of colorful lines and dots appeared and after squinting at the screen Gibbs identified what that was.

"DNA?"

"Yes, Knox' DNA. The tarp acted almost like an embalming chamber, slowing down the decomposition rate and effectively preserving the body from the elements, that's why we didn't see much degradation after twenty years because it was never exposed to rain, bugs or spores. It slowly rotted down and cooled into a mummy like corpse."

"Abby." Gibbs' growled, his patient starting to run low.

"Gibbs, please." She clicked something, and a fast running program appeared in the screen.

"Just by chance, I've entered his DNA in the Federal DNA database, just to see if there was any match and..."

The computer beeped, at the same time another string of DNA appeared in the screen and the big bold red words MATCH appeared in the screen.

"There's a match." Gibbs muttered, seeing the result blinking before his eyes.

"Yes."

"Who?"

"_Who _is not important. Or maybe it is. Well, anyway, the important question now is _where_?"

Gibbs glared at Abby, unhappy with her roundabout way of saying things.

"Okay, Where?"

"Here in NCIS."

"What?"

"I swear I didn't know. I thought it was strange and I ran it four times."

"What type of match?"

"It's a match on the parental side. It's 98% chance that Sergeant Knox is the father of this person."

"Knox had a little girl, who we were thinking was either dead or missing."

Abby sighed and touched her mouse, making an employee file appear in the plasma screen.

"She was never missing, Gibbs. She might have been lost, but we had her right under our noses the whole time."

Both Gibbs and Abby looked at the plasma, where a picture of an employee file appeared huge in the screen, the blinking words MATCH loudly screaming over the picture and the DNA sample.


	9. one in one billion

_**Chapter 9: one in one billion**_

**_Sometimes the past seems too big for the present to hold. Chuck Palahniuk_**

"This is an exercise of futility," Ziva said waving the clicker in her hand, exasperated, "We're trying to solve a twenty five year old murder and kidnapping case grasping straws."

Tony looked up from the twenty plus year old employee list of the building where Sergeant Dylan Knox worked and sighed, "Why do you say that?"

"If she is alive - and that's a big if - she's a completely different person from who she was then. She's not even aware of what has happened then, as she will not have any memory of the events of that led to her father's murder. Therefore, she's not a reliable witness."

"But she is still a victim, Ziva. Therefore, we must find her," McGee said, glancing briefly from his screen to look at Joy, who came from the break room with a bottle of water in one hand and a paper napkin wiping her nose. She stopped to look at the picture of the dead marine and his daughter, sipping her water slowly.

"If she is alive. How old was she when he was killed?" Joy asked, studying the picture with irritated eyes, feeling her nose itching for a sneeze that refused to come forth.

" Four."

The agents looked at the faded photograph of a cute chubby toddler in the arms of a laughing man in early eighties Marine's uniform. She hadn't yet lost the baby fat in it and her toothy white smile was charming, her face framed with dark brownish curls which gave her a doll like appearance.

"Ziva is right." She sniffled and folded again her handkerchief, feeling a faint fever burning behind her eyes making her achy all over. "Despite the fact that a four year old has already developed the initial foundation of her adult personality, such the basic abilities to trust, a greater sense of personal identity, a basic vocabulary of more than fifteen hundred words, the core of her self is done, but she still can and will be molded by her environment up until she is seven."

Gibbs chose that moment to arrive at the bullpen and folded his arms, gazing at his agents as they bounced ideas on the case. His gaze landed on Joy who smiled at him and continued profiling their victim.

"If she is alive, she is completely unaware of her past. It's like it has never happened. She was molded and forged by the circumstances after the murder and her mind must have completely erased the tragedy in order to allow her to cope with the new environment she was immersed in, adapting to a new set of rules and situations completely diverse of the ones she was used to. She might not be physically dead, but the Lorelai Christine Knox as we know her died the night her father was murdered."

"So," Gibbs interrupted and pointed to the picture in the plasma, "even if we ran into her in the street and showed her a picture of herself as a baby, she wouldn't have recognized it," Gibbs approached her and studied her reactions.

She shrugged and continued talking, not noticing Gibbs' carefully watching her expressions.

"The probability of that happening is too high even to be calculated. We're talking here about one in billions, Gibbs. And that in the very unlikely chance she is alive."

Gibbs frowned as he studied Joy, who was rubbing her nose and blinking owlishly at him, as her eyes watered with a light fever spiking again.

"Boss, statistically speaking, in child kidnapping cases like this, a parent or family relative is involved in 49% of the cases, while an acquaintance is involved in 27% and finally we have the cases where someone who had no prior contact with either parent or child, which is the last 24%. There are 800.000 juveniles reported missing each year, and of those or every 10,000 missing child reports (including runaways) around one child is killed. But that's in the 1990s statistics. I don't know the current number but I do know that each year a child remains missing the chances of finding her alive and well decrease exponentially."

"So you are saying that we can't find her. At all."

Joy rubbed her nose with the handkerchief again, before finally answering with a shake of her head, "It would be nearly a miracle, Boss. Even then, there's nothing that she could add as she won't have any memories of that time."

He nodded and glanced at the picture, asking out of the blue, "What do you remember of your childhood?"

"My childhood? What's the relevance of it?" Joy looked confused at Gibbs, feeling a light nausea running through her. Her head started pounding, adding to her discomfort, as Gibbs turned his blue eyes towards her and pinned her down with his gaze.

"Just answer the question. What do you remember of the time prior to your adoption by the Buchanan's family."

Joy stared at Gibbs for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts to answer him, unsure of his reasons for asking it.

"Not much; it's just a strange blur of sensations and sounds. Why are you asking me that?"

"So you remember nothing at all? No names? No colors. Maybe a street name or place where you've been before?"

Gibbs stood over her, his gaze studying every reaction on her face, seeing only incredulity and confusion. No hint of lying in her red rimmed eyes. "No, I don't remember. Why are you asking me that? What's that supposed to mean?"

His gaze was locked on her face, studying her facial features and mentally comparing with the one in the plasma. Now that he knew what to look for, he could see the similarities and he was surprised none of the team had picked them up yet. But then, they were looking at a twenty-five-plus-year-old picture. The skin color and hair color were right. The chin had lost its baby fat and had become more pronounced, but the eyes were a dead giveaway.

Gibbs took a step forward, making Joy take a step back, her face finally staying parallel to the plasma, making the other three agents gasp as they looked from the picture on the plasma to their colleague, who was looking at them as if they had lost their minds.

They look at the baby then at her.

The same curly hair.

The same chin, without baby fat.

And - the most important - the same eyes.

"What are you talking about, Gibbs?"

"Boss, are you saying... are you really implying that she is..." Tony froze, his mind making him unable to complete the sentence staring at Joy who finally became pale as a sheet of paper.

"What?" Joy croaked, feeling her throat closing down as her eyes watered like crazy. The nausea came back full force and the headache which had been silently creeping up became a full blown migraine, with a marching band and flying jets roaring in her ears as she tried to keep the little bit that was in her stomach down.

Gibbs' voice took an uncharacteristic gentle tone, as he saw the first signs of distress appearing on his agent's face. "You're the right age. You don't remember your past. Some traumatic event made you completely wipe your memory. It fits."

The room started to spin, at the same time she started to hyperventilate. "Boss, the chance of that happening is …"

"I know. It's staggering high."

"That can't be." McGee's voice shook with denial, seeing the distress she was going through as her mind struggled to wrap around the idea.

"What if it was?" Gibbs turned around and looked at McGee, who had a horrified expression on his face.

"How can you even suggest that? That's not funny!" Joy punched his chest lightly, her fear and pain forcing her to react, her fever weakening her each second that went by.

She punched him again, but before it made contact Gibbs grabbed her by her wrists, forcing her to look into his face. He saw her eyes watering down so he said in a gentle voice, "DNA search found a match in the NCIS employee database."

"No." Her tears were starting to escape.

"It's a match on the parental side."

"That can't be true." She whispered, shaking her head in denial.

"But it is," says Abby, choosing that exact moment to enter the bullpen holding the DNA lab results in her hands. "I've ran the tests four times, afraid of having screwed up the first time."

Joy stared at Abby, frozen, incapable of thinking as her head blew up with pain as her fever chose that exact moment to creep up. Her eyes filled with unshed tears, her hurt became unbearable and reality suddenly seemed a very dark and cold place to be.


	10. Broken

_**Chapter 10: Broken **_

"Joy!" McGee ran after his distressed wife who, after having her world destroyed, ran away from the bullpen towards the elevators. He caught a glimpse of her sliding down to the floor, before the doors closed after herself, the blinking leds indicating that she was going down to autopsy.

He punched the door before spinning around to glare at his team mates, who were all looking at him with worried looks on their faces. Ziva was looking confused while Tony was trying to pierce the information together, his eyes moving from Gibbs to McGee incessantly. Abby was standing by Gibbs' side, her hands nervously twisting the folders that had literally ripped open a piece of his wife's soul.

Gibbs' eyes were on McGee, patiently waiting for him either to calm down or to blow up at him.

"Are you absolutely sure of this?" McGee asked with a trembling voice, still unwilling to believe that again life had managed to throw a curve ball at them. But this time, it had hit low, way below the belt.

"I wouldn't have even considered mentioning if I didn't think it was remotely possible."

"Possible? Boss, this has the capability of destroying her! She has been through so much and... Gosh, Boss.!" McGee ran trembling hands through his hair, feeling an incoming headache blossoming thanks to lack of sleep and plenty of worry.

"DNA doesn't lie, Tim." Abby said. "I've checked it. It's a match."

"Abby," McGee approached her, his green eyes begging her for an explanation. "Is there a chance, any chance you mixed the samples, any chance at all?"

Abby lowered her eyes to the floor, her hands squeezing the papers as if they were the neck of someone she was very mad at. "I'm sorry, Timmy."

McGee looked again to the elevator, the lights indicating that it had stopped on the morgue's floor. After a second of indecision, he rushed towards the stairs, running down taking two steps at a time, eager to talk to her, faintly hearing the sound of footsteps following him down.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Joy closed her eyes as soon as the elevator doors closed behind herself, faintly hearing McGee's voice calling out her name as her heart squeezed in her chest, making it hard to think and to breathe. Her mouth opened into an anguished cry but no sound came out, as her mind quickly spun the facts before her closed eyelids, the body pictures, the cruelty towards the corpse, the shallow grave, the picture of him living holding a toddler...

No, holding _her _in his arms...

The doors of the elevator opened again and she opened teary eyes to the empty autopsy corridor. With difficulty she stood up from the floor and left the elevator, walking with shaky steps towards the doors which swished open as soon as she got close to it.

She forced herself to enter autopsy but froze as she saw Ducky and Jimmy standing beside the sheet covered body, their instruments carefully organized on a table beside them. Both were solemnly looking at her, as she sobbed and stayed there frozen, uncertain if she was strong enough to get closer to them and to him.

"I've suspected you would soon be on your way here, my dear." Ducky said, his voice soothingly floating in the cold morgue.

She sobbed again, her voice quivering as she looked at the Scott. "Ducky, I..." she couldn't continue, as she lowered her face to her chest and let the tears fall.

It was Jimmy who took the initiative of taking a step towards her, offering her his hand so she could have something solid to hold onto. She laid grateful eyes on him and took the offering, squeezing his hand and following him closer to the corpse.

Jimmy took her shaking hand and put it on the fold of his arm, bringing her close to his body and silently giving her support for one of the hardest moments of her life. She squeezed his arm in appreciation and both looked at Ducky, as he slowly moved the sheet away from the corpse on the table.

Joy took a deep breath and looked down at him, her trained gaze taking in the decomposition of the flesh and the state of the bones and leathery skin stretched over them. It went up to the head, noticing the bullet hole on the side of the cranium and then lowered her gaze to his chest.

"The bullet hole in the head was post mortem." Ducky said solemnly, bringing Joy's gaze to his face, as he went around the table and approached the x-rays on the illuminated wall, bringing Jimmy and Joy's focus on the exams.

"We were able to ascertain that he was shot first in his back and the trace residue of dirt on his knees and hands attest to that." Ducky said,

"How?"

"We found trace amounts of a polymer in his clothes all over his chest and arms. We sent it to Abby for analysis but I had a hunch and did a little research in the internet." Jimmy said, letting go of her hand and going to the computer table, bringing a printed paper to Joy.

She looked at it with confused eyes for a moment, reading it with a puzzled expression on her face.

"What's this?"

She looked up at Jimmy and Ducky, who shared a look before turning to her, at the same time that the door of the morgue opened and a frazzled McGee entered autopsy followed by Gibbs, walking in a more sedated pace.

"The position of his hands, the dirt on his knees and hands don't match the soil where he was buried and the polymer traces indicate that he had his back to his attacker, and that he was hunched over or holding something in his arms at the moment he was shot." Ducky said, seeing her gaze flickering from his face to the paper.

"The polymer..."

"It matches a very common type of baby blanket back in the early eighties." JImmy said and he saw the exact moment her mind jumped to a conclusion and made the connection. Her eyes became huge and her hands became slack around the paper in them. The paper slowly drifted to the floor as she looked at them with her pain there, naked to the eye, as she started to breathe deeply as her gaze flickered from one to the other.

She took one step then another back, faintly hearing her own hissing breathing harsh in the cold silence of the morgue.

"Joy." McGee said softly, afraid for her sanity.

"Oh, God."

"Joy, babe, please." McGee took a step towards her but she was barely acknowledging his presence as she turned her back to him to stare at the corpse on the cold table.

"Oh... oh..." her knees failed her and McGee was there to catch her before she fell. He hugged her firmly against his chest as she hissed loudly, trying to get her breathing going, just feeling a growing darkness on the corners of her eyes as she pierced the facts together.

"Joy, please, deep breaths, come on, you can do it. Please." He hid his face on her neck, feeling her feverish body tremble in his arms.

"All this time." She said in between her sobs, looking at the corpse, her breathing short. "He was dead. He died with me in his arms. He didn't … he wasn't looking for me. There wasn't anyone looking for me because he was dead."

"Joy, don't do this to yourself. Please." McGee closed his eyes, feeling his own eyes burning with tears as she slowly lost it in his arms. She tried to get close to the corpse but he held her back, his arms tightening around her, as she sobbed harder.

Gibbs looked at the two agents kneeling on the cold autopsy floor, noticing when she moved in McGee's arms and hid her face against his chest, his arms tightening around her as she sobbed brokenheartedly for several minutes.

He chanced to glance at Ducky and Jimmy, who were both looking at the two agents with tears in their eyes.

"Duck? Are those findings final?"

Ducky took his glasses and wiped them carefully, a gesture that Gibbs had seen him doing countless time when he was nervous about something.

"I'm just waiting for the final report on the samples we've sent to Abby, but it's my belief that the forensic evidence points to this possible scenario."

Joy wiped her face with trembling hands, thanking McGee as he offered her a handkerchief so she could clean up better. He stood and slowly helped her up, his arm never leaving her shoulder as both agents turned to Gibbs, who was studying them with concern. Joy was still visibly shaken, McGee wasn't far behind on the shock department, both holding the other in a death grip.

"Boss, I can't." She muttered, getting a surprised look from McGee, who studied her tear stained face as she turned to him. "I can't, Tim."

"Can't what, Joy?" McGee asked gently, seeing an apology in her eyes as she shook her head vehemently.

"I'm sorry, Tim. But I can't do this." She turned to Gibbs, who stood straighter. "Boss, I hereby request my dismissal from this case. I'm not going to be objective and... I'm too close to it. I can't... I'm sorry."

Gibbs glanced at McGee's surprised face before his eyes settled on Joy's demure figure, her shoulders low and her head lowered to her chest, her breathing hissing at each intake of air.

"No need to apologize. I understand it completely. But are you sure you want to step away?"

Joy shook her head, her tears still falling free and wetting her face as she looked at Gibbs.

"Boss, if Ducky's right... whoever did this was someone close to my... to him. Close enough that he would turn his back to the unsub making himself vulnerable to him. And you've only found the dump site, you haven't found the primary site, which is where the murder was committed." She rubbed her burning eyes, feeling her fever boiling behind her eyeballs. "And I'm in no condition - either physically or emotionally - to handle an investigation like this with a cool head."

Gibbs chanced a glance at Ducky, who nodded in agreement. She was still feeling sick, insisting to work on a case like that would be detrimental to her health.

"Okay then. You're dismissed from this case."

He saw Joy's shoulders sag, before she turned to McGee and rested her forehead on his chest, hugging him lightly as he turned tortured eyes to Gibbs.

"What do you want to do now?" McGee asked softly, just for her ears, his gaze not wavering from Gibbs'.

"I want..." She hiccuped before looking up at him. "I want my family. I want my dad, Faith and Hope. I want to see them. Please."

"Okay," he kissed her forehead, feeling the faint sweat gathered on her skin which was still hot to the touch. "I can do that. I'll take you to the Hoover Building so you stay with them, okay?"

She nodded lightly and McGee, with his arms around her shoulders, started to guide her out of the autopsy towards the doors under the worried looks of the other three men.

They however noticed when she stopped and faltered, shaking her head lightly.

"Come on, Joy, I'll drive you to your sisters."

"But Tim, the timeline is wrong." She said in a firmer voice, looking up at his confused face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh God..." She turned to Gibbs, finding his gaze on her. "Boss, the timeline is wrong!"

"How wrong?"

"Boss." She left McGee's safe arms and took a step towards Gibbs, her gaze flickering from him to the table. "If he was killed in 1983, at the same time he disappeared... Boss, I was found by the Buchanan's in 1987."

Gibbs took a deep breath, as he thought about what she was talking about. "So, you are suggesting that..."

"Boss, whoever did that... who killed him... he kept me. And he..." her voice faltered as she looked at him, as she felt herself shuddering as nausea came full force and long lost sensory memories of cold and darkness assaulted her senses.

"Whoever did this is the same creep who gave me the scars on my back." She finally said with gritted teeth, forcing the bile down and refusing to get sick at Gibbs' feet.

Her words brought the men to a standstill, as they looked at each other and finally figured out the seriousness of the situation at hand.

"Wait a minute, you are suggesting that...this creep kept you?" McGee started but couldn't finish his thought, as she turned to him and nodded, seeing the incredulity turn to horror in his face.

"Whoever did this knew what he was doing. And his … purpose... was to get to me. I was the final target, because he knew that if he made everyone think Knox went AWOL with his daughter, there would be no one looking for me. He got away with murder and kidnapping and no one knew about it."

She turned to Gibbs, her voice breaking as her eyes filled again with tears. "And he had me beaten... and..." Gibbs approached her slowly, feeling her distress and he stopped before her as she sobbed out. "... he carved me as if I was a piece of leather, Boss." She lowered her head, her tears making her shoulders shake under her emotional duress.

Gibbs opened his arms and she took the offer without hesitation, accepting his hug as she sobbed against his chest, wetting his shirt and jacket.

"We'll find him and he will pay for it, Joy."

She sniffed and nodded against his chest. "I know." She said, her voice muffled by her clogged sinuses. "But I can't be here to help you in this. I can't."

He took a step back, his hands going to her chin forcing her look at him.

"I understand." He looked at McGee and guided her to his arms. "Now go and stay with them until we go pick you up later, okay?"


	11. Leaving to fight another day

_**Chapter 11: Leaving to fight another day**_

Joy and McGee reached the bullpen and she immediately went to pack her backpack, turning off her computer while McGee went to his desk drawer after his car keys and badge.

Tony and Ziva stood up, looking worriedly at them not knowing what to say.

"Hey, Probie." McGee closed his drawer and looked at Tony, his eyes red but dry. "What's going on?"

Joy sniffed and looked at Ziva, her backpack firmly in her hands. "Tim is taking me to the Hoover Building. I'm going to stay with my sisters for a while until you close this case."

"Wait a second. You are off the case! But that is unfair!" Ziva approached Joy, eager to defend her colleague, but she was very surprised when Joy lifted her hand, asking her to be calm.

"I requested to be taken off of the case."

"But why? If this is true, if that's truly your... family, don't you want to be part of it? Don't you want to find out the truth?" Tony folded his arms, confused at Joy's decision.

"Tony, I know the truth." She licked dry lips before looking at Tony, her voice quivering as she spoke each word as if they hurt her. "My biological father was killed by a psychopath who kidnapped me and for years had me beaten and tortured."

Ziva's sharp intake of breath led her to look at the Israeli, whose brown eyes were looking horrified as she understood why Joy decided to step back.

"I don't need the details of the truth. I've carried them my whole life as scars on the skin of my back. It has almost destroyed me before and it has the power to destroy me again. I had to forget it in order to survive with the minimum of sanity I could possibly hold on. I can't relive that again. I'm not that strong."

McGee sighed, rubbing a hand over the bridge of his nose, feeling the headache becoming full blown. "Let's go."

She nodded and turned to leave, but she stopped first in front of Ziva, who was looking at her with tears in her eyes, but as a good Mossad soldier, none were allowed to fall free.

Joy took the initiative and hugged the Israeli, both women holding each other for a whole minute before they stood apart. McGee put a hand on Joy's shoulder, who glanced at Tony who nodded at them before stepping back so they could slowly walk out of the bullpen under the worried looks of their colleagues.

Gibbs arrived at the bullpen at the moment they entered the elevator, going to stand between Tony and Ziva who kept looking at the closed door of the elevator once the agents were gone.

"What do we do now, Boss?"

"We find the bastard."


	12. A visit to Hope's Den

**_Chapter 12: A visit to Hope's Den_**

The silence in the car was heavy, as McGee drove the short distance between the Navy Yard and the Hoover Building, throwing glances here and there at Joy, who was sitting morosely watching the cars they were driving by.

"Are you okay?" He finally asked, as he checked his clock and turned into the avenue which would lead to the Hoover Building and Joy's sisters.

She sniffed and leaned her head back into the headrest, turning her head to look at him.

"I don't know. My head hurts."

"Are you still feeling nauseous?"

"A little. It had gotten better when I arrived at the office but It hit again when we went to autopsy."  
>McGee threw her a worried glance, seeing her taking deep breaths, her eyes closed in an uncharacteristically pale face.<p>

"Ah... are you going to be sick? Do you want me to stop for you to …"

"I'm not going to puke, Tim."

"Ah, good."

They stayed silent for a moment, until she added with a small smile on her voice.

"For now."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They arrived a little after eleven am and showed their badges to be granted access to the Federal Building parking lot.

They went directly to one of the elevators, boarding it in silence. Both pressed themselves to the back wall as the elevator was filled with other agents when they stopped at the main floor. They kept their eyes on the display until it announced their floor. They pushed their way between the agents and went to the door and left it at the third floor, keeping a hurried step while they walked down the corridor until a small black door which had a small plate "Counterintelligence Department".

They stopped before the door and knocked, waiting for someone inside to open it. Joy kept her eyes on the people coming up and down the corridor while McGee knocked again, this time louder.

"Why can't we try Faith first?"

"She is in the quarterly meeting with the ADs. We won't be able to reach her the whole day." Joy muttered at the exact moment the door opened after several locks were undone, revealing a tiny Chinese looking man with very deep glasses in a small gap.

"Uhm... may I help you?" The man asked in a low voice.

The NCIS agents glanced at each other and each showed their badges. "Is Hope in? I need to talk to my sister."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Tim felt like he was entering one of Q's labs from the James Bond movies he'd watched with Tony, the only difference that there were many more gadgets than in any movie he had ever seen. There were shelves after shelves of cases with advanced electronics, from hearing aids to surveillance equipment he recognized, and some he couldn't recognize its use at first sight.

As they advanced into the room they saw Hope fitting an agent with some equipment for an op. She was fixing some cameras on his jacket pocket.

"I just need to fix this and I'll be with you in a minute."

She took a step back and nodded to one of her team, who tested the video and the sound being transmitted.

"Very good."

"Hope." McGee said, making the blonde agent spin in her spot with a smile on her face.

"Oh, visitors! What could possibly have brought you to my batcave?" Hope's smile dimmed as she looked at Joy's face, who was glancing at her with a pinched look on her face.

"What's wrong?"

She walked around the standing agent and bumped one of her techs out of her way and ran to her sister's side, once she saw Joy lowering her head as she couldn't stop hold back her tears anymore.

"Oh my... you are really sick, aren't you? What have they said? Did the doctors...?" Hope entered into total freak out mode, rushing to Joy and hugging her as she felt her sister lightly shaking, one of her hands going Joy's neck and forehead to check her temperature and finding it hot under her touch.

"That' not it." McGee said, looking sadly to the two sisters hugging.

"Ah... but... Temp came back and said you were feeling better, but you're still feverish and sincerely look like shit and..."

"Hope!" Joy called out, trying to shut up her sister. "They... We've found my father."

"But dad isn't missing."

"We're not talking about Joseph." McGee said, looking around and seeing the curious looks in the agents' faces, who promptly looked the other way once they met his eyes.

"Can we speak somewhere privately?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

After a few minutes talking Hope agreed to keep tabs on Joy and called Temp, right after leaving a message with Faith's secretary.

McGee called Hope aside and talked to her in soft tones, telling her of Joy's symptoms and telling her to watch out as he had to go back to Navy Yard to join the others in the investigation.

"We're getting this bastard, right? If you need help, any help, I'm in."

"Thanks, Hope." He glanced towards Joy, who as sitting on Hope's sofa with a lost look on her face. "But right now I need you to look after her. She's been… moody and she pretends she is not worried, but I know she is. We haven't got back the exams but she's not fine."

"I've noticed. She's a bundle of nerves. She's never that emotional." Both looked worriedly at Joy as she leaned back and closed her eyes, appearing completely beat.

Hope sighed and put a hand on McGee's shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll look after her. Temp is on her way, Faith will come down shortly from her visit to the marble halls of hell."

"Thanks." He smiled tensely to his sister-in-law before going into the office, kneeling before his wife and moving a hair curl out of her face, feeling the temperature of her skin with the tip of his fingers.

"You stay here, I'll come over as soon as we're done for the day, okay?"

"Okay, I'm not feeling very well." She lifted a shaking hand to her face, touching her burning cheeks and feeling the warmth on them.

"Have you brought the meds Ducky prescribed to you?"

"Yeah, they're in my backpack. I'll take them again in one hour."

"Good. See you later."

"See ya."

He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on her lips, before standing up and leaving the room. He still paused to squeeze Hope's hand on his way out, throwing a glance over his shoulder and finding her worried gaze on him.

He smiled thinly and left, his hurried steps taking him out of Hope's office and towards the elevator, going back to the Navy Yard. Once in the elevator, he closed his eyes and it was permanently etched in his mind her sickly looking face crowned with limp curls and huge dark eyes looking at him, trying desperately not show her pain and despair in them.


	13. Bad Bad news

**_Chapter 13: Bad Bad news _**

_"There's nothing bad that can't get worse really fast." - Me in a very bad, terrible completely no good day._

McGee arrived back at the bullpen just to find DiNozzo and David on the phone, checking leads. He rushed to his own desk and checked if his searches were done, visually checking one or the other and separating the ones he would print to show to Gibbs later.

Ziva glanced worriedly at him and dared to poke him. "Hey, how is Joy?"

"I've left her at Hope's office. Temp and Faith will join her later, they are going to stay with her for a while."

"How is she dealing with all that?" Tony asked in a soft voice, almost a whisper, as soon as he disconnected his phone call and glanced at McGee.

McGee looked at his teammate and sighed, the image of his sick wife's face floating before his eyes. "She's not. I think it hasn't sunk in yet because she is feeling so rotten that she is doing her best not to puke every hour. She freaked out a little when we were with Ducky but she still was in auto pilot mode."

"We know, Gibbs told us that , despite being in shock, she still gave him a basic profile to work on." Ziva said, closing a background check report and going to the next in her pile.

"Yeah. She did." McGee looked back to his screen, picking one of the files to put on the plasma. "Look what I've found."

All three agents looked at the plasma, seeing an old bank statement on the screen. "Sergeant Knox's accounts were frozen in the year he was declared AWOL but they had registered absolutely no movement after his disappearance in 1983."

"In this time of Lady Gaga twitter and Michael Bay movies, are we still able to access accounts dating back early 1980's?" Tony asked, just to receive an aggravated look from McGee, who shook his head and put another bank statement on the screen.

"Yes, once they updated the systems they also put the old records online as a searchable database." McGee answered, looking at the plasma with the clicker in hand.

"His disappearance was investigated by NIS, but at that time they had believed he had gone AWOL instead of accepting a new position being forced onto him." Ziva said, looking at her notes.

"Really, why?" McGee asked.

"This new position would demand longer hours, different office further away from home, which would make things complicated for him as he was a single father who had picked that specific assignment allowing him more hours with his child."

"And nobody has ever suspected foul play because on the same day he was last seen he withdrew fifteen thousand dollars from his savings account." McGee said, showing the banking statement with the info.

"Any idea why did he need that money for?"

"Nope. But after that withdraw, his account was never touched again." McGee turned around and went to his desk.

Gibbs arrived shortly after and went to his desk, grabbing his gun and badge. "Grab your gear, McGee, you coming with me."

The agents looked at each other before looking again to Gibbs, McGee rushing to obey him. "Boss?" There was a question in his voice.

"Abby has just found a living relative. Knox had an older sister, she's still living near the border of Western Virginia. Let's go!"

"What about us?" Gibbs stopped and glared at Tony, who gulped down his next question and completed. "We're going to track the living members of Knox's team and talk to them."

"His former superior officer is arriving in thirty minutes. Let Ziva handle the interview."

Tony looked at Ziva with a lifted eyebrow, while the she grinned widely at him, eager to grill the incoming victim to her clutches.

Gibbs turned around with McGee on his six but at that exact moment the elevator dinged and two familiar faces came out of it along an unknown one, making both the marine and his agent stop as they were approached by them.

"Special Agent Gibbs, Special Agent McGee." SSA Aaron Hotchner said as a matter of introduction, giving his hand to be shaken by the older man.

"SSA Hotchner."

They shook hands, Gibbs' gaze flying to SSA Spencer Reid who was looking at McGee with a direct stare.

"SSA Reid."

"Agent McGee." Reid said, offering his hand to be shaken at the same time his eyes flittered around the bullpen, seeking for a head with curly hair. "Where's Joy?"

McGee paused, glancing at Gibbs before answering the question. "She's at the Hoover Building, I've just left her there."

"You're working on an FBI case?" The stranger asked, exchanging a look with Hotch before looking at McGee again, his tanned skin and dark hair showing clearly his Italian descent.

"No, we're not. I've just left her there because she wasn't feeling well and we've just found her father's body."

That brought a gasp to the FBI agents, making Reid look horrified at McGee.

"Oh my God, was Reverend Buchanan murdered? Are we too late?" Reid asked with horror in his eyes as he looked at Hotch whose face became very sour.

"Gosh, no. We're talking about her biological father. Joseph is fine." McGee said, seeing the horror change into urgency in their faces. "Aren't you here because of that?"

Hotch turned to Reid and nodded, making the younger agent turn his back and get his phone out, immediately making a phone call.

"What the hell is going? And what did you mean when you said you were too late!" Gibbs looked at Hotchner feeling the tall serious agent's gaze on him, showing concern towards him and McGee, which made Gibbs gut twist in a very characteristic way.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

"I can't reach her on her phone." Reid said turning to McGee. "Have you spoken to her at all since you've left her at the Hoover Building?"

"No, she was with her sisters. And why should I?" McGee was getting aggravated. "She changed numbers a couple of weeks ago once we came back from Japan. What's wrong?"

"What's her new number?"

"Reid?"

"What's her number?"

"Reid, what the... **_What's wrong_**?" McGee shouted, grabbing Reid by his shoulder and shaking him, his lack of control bringing a mortal silence to the bullpen as all agents stopped whatever they were doing to stare at the group standing by the elevators.

Reid gulped, looking at McGee with huge sorrowful eyes as he blurted out. "We believe she is being targeted by a sociopath."

"What?" McGee's voice came out in a whisper, looking into Reid's eyes and finding no humor in them. His gaze was dead serious.

"He is speaking the truth." The stranger said, taking a step ahead and touching McGee's hand on Reid's shoulder, moving the slack hands away.

The NCIS agent was looking shocked at them, vaguely feeling Gibbs's stare on his back as well as the faint presence of Tony and Ziva somewhere behind his back.

"We're investigating a series of murders in which certain circumstances led us to believe the _unsub_ is somehow connected to Buchanan's past." Hotchner said, seeing the shock slowly settling down.

"It's imperative that we find her and put her into protective custody before the _unsub_ figures out that we know who he is looking for." Reid said, seeing McGee's gaze moving from his face to Gibbs.

"Boss." McGee's word held a world of pain in it, his green eyes showing Gibbs the depth of his despair.

"McGee." Reid said in a soft voice, aware of the pain the other man was feeling.

McGee turned to look at Reid.

"The _number_."

McGee distractedly said her number, while Reid immediately dialed it.

Hotch looked at Gibbs, finding Tony and Ziva shortly behind them. "Let's go to a conference room, I'll debrief you on the case."

_"Hey, Joy! It's me, Spencer."_ Reid looked up at McGee, who was staring at him with huge sorrowful eyes. _"Listen, you are with your sisters at the Hoover Building, aren't you? Good, whatever happens, don't leave the building, okay?"_

He paused to hear whatever she was saying for a moment, before continuing. _"Joy, please, listen to me. Don't leave your sister's office, okay? I'm going to get you and I'll explain everything to you. I can't explain on the phone, this isn't a secure line. Just wait for me."_

He disconnected and turned to the agents, who were all staring at him. He gulped as he approached McGee, whose face was torn between despair and betrayal.

"I swear I'm not going to let anything happen to her." He said, trying to transmit his sincerity in each word.

"Reid," Hotch's gaze went from McGee to Reid. "Go. Contact us only after you have her safely away."

Reid nodded, his gaze never wavering from McGee's eyes before he turned around and ran back to the elevator.

Hotch took a step forward and put a hand on McGee's face, waiting for him to look up at him. "Come on, I'll debrief you on our case and you can tell us what you meant when you said you've found her biological father."

The FBI and NCIS agents moved in one single file towards the stairs, going up to Vance's room, aware that they had a big problem in their hands.


	14. Death in the past and today

a/n: So.. my beta is still on vacation and this story is sitting here on my hard drive eager to come out. So I've rechecked and spellchecked it twice before posting it. All mistakes are solely mine.**_ Fasten your seat belts, this is going to be a bumpy ride.  
><em>**

* * *

><p><strong><em>CHAPTER 14: Death in the past and today<em>**

**__For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. - J. F. Kennedy_  
><em>**

Vance was looking sourly at the several agents who suddenly invaded his inner sanctum. He glanced at Gibbs who was standing behind a shocked looking McGee, who was doing his best to keep his composure but he was failing miserably. Tony and Ziva were sitting each by one of his sides, silently offering him support as the FBI agents who were slowly setting up a laptop connected to his plasma.

"Care to explain what's going on, Agent Gibbs?"

"I'm as much in the dark as you are, Director Vance." He folded his arms, looking at the FBI agents who finished setting up the laptop and looked at them, their gaze moving from one agent to the other before landing on McGee.

"Director Vance, I apologize for interrupting your work day but there's a matter of extreme importance that we have to share with you."

The agents quieted down and looked at him. "I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, we've met when we worked together on Jarod Gartner's case a couple of years back. This is SSA Rossi, who is also working with us at the BAU."

Rossi nodded to them, receiving a nod in return.

"It has come to our attention a series of murders happening along the Route 66. The victimology is irregular as there's no match in social economic or race, religious backgrounds."

Rossi took a step forward, "So far, we've had four deaths but each had very distinct characteristics that lead us to believe we're talking about the same unsub."

"What does it have to do with my wife?" McGee asked, lifting his eyes from the table and staring at Hotch.

The older man touched the laptop and a series of pictures appeared in a slide show in the plasma, making all agents looking at it cringe at the bloodied bodies in it.

"They were all flogged to death during a period of three days." Rossi said, using the shocked silence in the room as a dramatic backdrop.

"But that's a VCS case. It has nothing to do with NCIS." Vance said, biting nervously his toothpick. Hotch glanced at Vance, aggravated, before sitting down in front of McGee and taking a folder from his suitcase.

McGee sat straighter on his chair as he saw the seriousness on Hotch's face, who waited until the younger man met his gaze to slide a closed folder across the table to McGee.

The young man gulped, his gaze moving nervously from the folder to the BAU leader, who leaned his head to the side minutely, giving him the silent order to look inside the folder.

He sighed and opened the folder, feeling the floor under his feet disappear as he looked at more detailed pictures of the wounds before him. Bile rose up as his body revolted against the horror he was feeling, while he felt tears gathering up in his eyes as he moved the pictures aside, finding the same ghoulish writing on each of the victims.

Gibbs leaned over McGee's shoulder, one of his hands touching one of the pictures he slid aside, feeling his gut tying up into a permanent knot.

"How..." McGee's voice cracked, forcing him to swallow before he could continue. "How did you arrive to the conclusion that they are searching for Joy?"

Hotch's stern gaze never wavered from McGee's face. "How many people in the world have the word Servant carved on their back, McGee?"

"It could be a coincidence." By his tone of voice, it was clear that not even McGee believed that.

"I know that it's hard to accept it... and to think what this could possibly mean... but we need to ascertain that Buchanan is under protective custody until we find this unsub, keeping her away from his reach."

"Do you think there is a connection? The flogged killings with us finding her body's father?" Ziva asked, taking one of the pictures and cringing at it.

"There's no way to know. But what we do know..." Rossi touched the laptop and another picture appeared, showing the carvings in the back of the victim. "... is that whoever is doing this knows about Buchanan's scars and the carved word on her lower back. The dump sites were exactly that, there was no posing, no care with the body, he left them as if he was disposing of a garbage bag."

McGee looked up, his gaze finding Rossi's. "He wanted the bodies to be found."

"Exactly. This is a very sick and intelligent individual. The gap between each murder was of weeks between vic two and three; six months between that one and the last victim. He's taking his time; he is hunting and every kill he makes he leaves the same message behind."

_"Where's the Servant?"_ Vance read the creepy writings from one of the pictures on the table. He looked at the agents gathered around his conference desk. "What next?"

Gibbs glanced at Hotchner, who was looking at the marine studying him. "We'll have to work together, both my team and yours, in order to solve this. We have two cases, apparently unrelated and separated by more than twenty years but we know the players involved in both of them are the same thanks to one single connection."

"Buchanan," Vance muttered, his toothpick breaking inside of his mouth, making him spit the offending object aggravated. He went back to his desk looking for a new one.

Hotch turned to McGee, who sat back hunched on his chair, breathing deeply and slowly, his gaze fixed on the pictures on the desk.

"McGee."

Hotch waited until McGee looked up at him. "First of all, we'll need to ensure Buchanan's safety."

McGee shook his head. "She won't agree with that."

"McGee..."

"She won't go into Witness Protection. She won't accept that. She will want to help."

"She has requested to be taken off the case." Gibbs said, just to see McGee's burning eyes turned to him.

"She requested to be taken off **_our _**case." McGee said. "This is different. Our case happened in 1983. This is now! These people are dying now. She knows she can't do anything to... bring him back or offer a valid collaboration as a witness because she can't remember, but this is right here right now."

"Then it is up to you to convince her to go." Hotch's grave voice shut him up.

Hotch leaned forward, his hands open over the polished wood of the conference desk.

"I know what you're going through." McGee looked aside, but Hotch kept talking. "A couple of years back, we were in pursuit of an unsub who chose to target my family."

Rossi sat beside Hotch, looking gravely at his team leader as he disclosed his nightmarish tale.

"My son..." Hotch's voice wavered. "... my wife."

McGee looked at Hotch barely breathing, seeing the signs of pain in the older man's face. The BAU leader spoke softly, almost reverently, of his wife.

"The Marshalls took them away while I was in the hospital, recuperating from my wounds the unsub landed on me. There was no time for goodbyes, no time for tears."

McGee just listened.

"I've only heard her voice again several months later."

"How did it end?" Ziva somehow knew that there wasn't a happy ending to this story.

"The unsub found her and put her on the phone with me. He shot her while she was... saying goodbye to me."

The agents stared at the FBI agent, who kept watching McGee studying his every reaction.

"My wife was a civilian. Yours isn't. But I still don't want you to ever get a phone call like that, so I'm going to do my utmost to ensure that scenario never happens again."

A lone tear fell from McGee's eye, but he didn't waiver his gaze from Aaron's.

"Your kid?" Tony asked, seeing a relieved smile appear on Hotch's face.

"I arrived in time to save my son."

Gibbs studied the BAU agent, seeing his hands, his posture and dared ask out loud. "The killer?"

Hotch turned to Gibbs and in his eyes Gibbs saw the same determination he had seen in his own eyes once he found out what had happened with Kelly and Shannon.

"Dead."


	15. Old friends meet

**_Chapter 15: Old friends meet_**

Reid walked out in hurried steps out of the elevator towards Hope's office and he wasn't surprised to find a small Buchanan committee waiting for him there.

"Reid, what's going on?" Joy stood up from the sofa where she was surrounded by her sisters and went to him, but barely her words were out of her mouth she was engulfed in a bear hug, Reid's skinny arms going around her and squeezing her tight.

She frowned as she felt his restlessness, his fear clearly visible to someone who had shared a lot with him and knew him well enough to read the signs of distress on his face.

He hid his face on her neck, his breathing tickling lightly her skin but his concern was apparent to all sisters, who watched the scene unfold warily. They stood a little apart, each studying the other with hungry eyes, his gaze studying her face and finding her pale, but alive, very different from the horrifying pictures which had haunted his mind since early that morning.

She noticed the barely controlled panic in his eyes and immediately went into alert.

"What's wrong?" She asked softly, feeling him lowering his arms to take her hands in his in a firm squeeze.

"I need to show you some pictures and I need you to stay calm."

"What's going on?"

"Come on," he went deeper into Hope's office, closing the door after himself and lightly nodding to Faith, Hope and Temp, who were all there waiting to see whatever he had to tell them.

They all sat down and stayed silent as he took picture after picture out of his messenger bag and put on the little table before them, watching the horror and disgust come into their expressions after each explanation he gave them.

He chanced a glance at Joy once he finished his exposition, finding her staring with teary eyes the pictures of the latest victim, her hands lightly shaking as she touched the gashes captured forever in color.

"Oh my..." She lifted her eyes to him, finding just his worried gaze on herself.

"I've spoken to Hotch and he agrees that our only advantage right now is that we know who this unsub is looking for. And we're going to take it. I have orders to take you into custody and keep you underground until we've finished the case. We won't take any chance that he might come after you or your family."

"Reid this is... crazy! I can't simply disappear! Not now! I've just got married! I've just... we've just uncovered my past... We've found the body of my biological father. For once I have the chance of figuring out what happened to me as I was a kid. I can't go! McGee..."

"McGee is being debriefed by Hotch and Rossi as we speak. He is being made aware of the dangers and I think he would agree with me that our concern must be first and foremost your safety."

"But I can help!"

"Not on this." Reid shook his head, looking sadly at her. "We can't take the chance. And the only role for you if you stayed here would be as bait. But..." he pointed to the bleeding gashes on one of the pictures. "... none of the team is willing to take the chance of you ending like that. So you have to come with us."

"But Timothy..."

"He will understand." Reid said, seeing her gaze going to her sisters, who were all sitting in shock, looking at her in silence, waiting for her decision. "And I've just promised him that I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

Joy sat back on the sofa, taking deep breaths feeling a shiver running up and down her spine, imagining that it could be a very real possibility that someone had been walking over her grave. No, someone had been digging and planning to put her into a grave. She shuddered violently as a new bout of nausea came with a vengeance, making her close her eyes and take deep breaths trying desperately not to bolt from her seat to the nearest bathroom.

"I think... I think I need to talk to my husband."


	16. Goodbye my love

_**Chapter 16: Goodbye my love**_

Hotch took a step back with Rossi, letting the NCIS agents and their director talking in soft tones as they've decided which approach they would take on the next hours.

"What do you think?" Rossi asked, seeing McGee talking toTony while Ziva spoke in urgent tones to them.

"We wait. McGee must come to the conclusion this is the best path to follow own his own and as soon as we have the confirmation she is safely away we will work on this."

"Any word on Morgan and Prentiss?"

"Not yet. They must have landed half an hour ago. They are supposed to call us when they've finished with the interviews."

Hotch's phone rang and he glanced at the name on the display for a second before answering it.

"Have you found her, Reid?" Hotch went straight to business, not even saluting the younger agent.

"Hotch, Joy would like to talk to McGee, but I'm unwilling of letting her use her phone just in case. Is he anywhere close to you?"

Hotch glanced at McGee, staring shell-shocked at the pictures of the four victims on the conference desk.

"Yes he is, wait a minute."

He walked towards the younger agent, handing down the phone to McGee, who looks at him confused for a moment.

"Joy wants to speak to you."

McGee breathed sharply before glancing at Gibbs and at Vance, both men standing just to his right and with their trained eyes on the pictures spread out over the conference table. He stood up and took the phone from the FBI agent's hands and walked to the corner of the Director's room to have a little bit more privacy to talk to his wife.

He stopped in front of the window and finally brought the phone to his ear.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"_I've been better. Listen, has Hotch debriefed you yet?"_

McGee sighed, glancing back at the NCIS and FBI agents speaking softly by the conference table.

"Yeah, he was just showing me the pictures of the case."

Both were eager to say so much but unwilling to start. Finally Joy sighed and went first.

"_Tim, they want me to go to a safehouse until the case is closed."_

"I know. Any idea when would that be?"

Back in the Hoover building, Joy turned her back to her sisters and Reid, approaching the window to stare at the street downstairs with all the cars and people rushing around trying to do something with their lives, completely unaware of the drama going on a few floors above them.

"_Effective immediately. Reid is in contact with other agents organizing it as we speak."_

"I see."

They stayed in silence for a moment, just their breathing sounding through the line.

Joy closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the phone,_ "Tim-"_

"I want you to go." McGee finally said in a resolute voice, not bearing argument.

"_Tim, -"_

"No, hear me out," he interrupted her again, his voice cracking and he glanced at Gibbs and Vance, seeing their serious gazes on him before turning his back to them.

"Whoever is this unsub he is flogging people alive, Joy. In the same pattern of your scars, but they are being flogged _until they die._ Before they are dead, the unsub carves their backs with the sentence 'Where is the Servant'. The last murder was in Illinois, just a couple of hours from here. I can't-" he stopped, as the pictures of the victims popped before his eyelids and he had to take a deep breath to control the nausea.

"I can't function knowing you are in danger. We are also investigating your biological father's murder. We can't have you as a liability here. You have to go."

Joy took a deep breath, her inhaling and exhaling hissing through the phone line, making him feel close to her.

Far away, so close.

"_You know what that means."_ She whispered to him.

"Yes. You won't be accessible until both cases are solved."

"_Tim,-"_

"Please, I want you safe. Just go." His voice cracked, but his resolve didn't fail.

She sighed again and obeyed, her eyes filling with tears as she didn't see any way out of it.

"_Okay."_

McGee's gaze met Hotch' and he slowly nodded to the BAU agent in order to show the older man that she had agreed to go to the safehouse.

"Hey Joy."

"_Yes, Tim." _

"I love you, okay? Keep safe."

"I love you too."

Both stayed silent, listening to the other breathing through the line, unwilling to let go, but knowing that their time was short.

Finally, Joy simply disconnected. He heard the tone, lowered his head and closed his eyes, feeling stubborn tears burning behind his eyelids as his mind went over the last few seconds of the conversation.

They didn't say goodbye. They didn't dare tempting fate like that.

Hotch slowly approached him and puts a hand on his shoulder, in a feeble attempt of comfort. He had been in the same place before, when he had to send his wife and son to a safe house during one of the worst periods of his life. Unfortunately, his story hadn't had a happy ending and he was going to do his best to ensure that no harm came to his ex-agent.

"Reid will be with her during her stay in the safehouse. We won't let anything happen to her."

"You'd better not," said McGee, his eyes becoming hard stones as he finally looked up and stared at Hotch, handing him back his phone. "Find this guy. Just find him."

He started walking towards the door in hard steps, in desperate need of some space and air to vent his fury and hurt.

"McGee." Gibbs called out, but the younger agent didn't even pause to acknowledge him.

"I need some air, Boss." With those words, he left the room, having the childish satisfaction of slamming the door behind himself.


	17. Talking

a/n: Sorry for the mess with the Sergeant x Lieutenant. That's what you get when you hit substitute all... a mess.

Fixed the tiny time expression and also some other inconsistencies.

Back to the story. Ah, an Angry!Tim is a sexy!Tim.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Chapter 18: Talking<em>**

Gibbs waited a few minutes before going after McGee, finding him exactly where he expected him to be.

He approached him slowly, unwilling to startle the young man who was staring at the Anacostia River as if he could find the solution to the problems bothering him in the murky waters floating a few feet away. The old marine sat down on the concrete bench beside him and both men stared at the water, silently, unwilling to break the calmness of the afternoon in which only the seagulls and some pigeons flew in the sky, their cries giving out a sense of tranquility and calm, as the birds ignored the huge number of people working incessantly in their daily projects just a few feet below.

"It was the right thing to do." Gibbs said as a beginning of conversation.

"Just because it's the right thing to do it doesn't make it any easier, does it?" McGee asked, his eyes still fixed at the river.

Gibbs nodded, watching a seagull landing on the edge of a docked ship, in one of the docks a few yards away.

"No, it doesn't."

That was definitely a talk killer, as none wanted to talk further after that.

Gibbs sighed deeply and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, his eyes still on the water, feeling the pain and despair that seemed to irradiate from his younger agent, who was struggling to keep his emotions on a tight leash.

"You know what?"

McGee asked suddenly, letting escape a nervous laugh which held no mirth on it.

"I was so worried what could possibly be wrong with her - you know, medically wise - that in no moment whatsoever it passed through my mind that I could... I might lose her in a case related thing. I know... at least from the intellectual point of view that..."

McGee turned to Gibbs, his green eyes red but no tears were anywhere to be seen.

"I know that our lives are dangerous, Boss. It comes with the badge I think. We put our lives on the line everyday that we leave our homes. But … Boss, you've seen Maggie. How … she is holding on just by her strong will and … Joy is unwilling even to think that whatever is wrong with her might be related to the radiation she was subjected to in Nellis."

McGee looked again to the murky waters ahead. "But another psychopath? And this one might be the one who beat her up when she was a little kid? Gosh..."

"She's nod dead yet, McGee. She's actually quite alive and there's a bunch of agents who will work hard to keep her that way."

"Yes, Boss, I know that but... she has no defenses against that. She usually can handle the dangers of today, but if you try to question anything of her past, she freaks out. With reason, and now we're going to be sneaking around and digging for clues of a past... that she had to forget in order to survive. And I don't know how she is going to react when she is finally forced to stand face to face with the monsters of her past."

Gibbs nodded, agreeing with the younger man, before he touched McGee's shoulder, forcing him to look at him.

"If it comes to that, she won't be standing alone."


	18. Morgan and Prentiss in Illinois

_**Chapter **__**18: Morgan and Prentiss in Illinois**_

After their airplane landed in Springfield, Prentiss and Morgan drove directly to the latest crime scene where the local detective was waiting for them.

"Detective Larry Keenan, glad you guys could come over, you must be the folks from BAU."

"SSA Prentiss, I'm SSA Morgan. What can you tell us about our victim?"

"Well, not much." They started walking towards the door of the warehouse.

"Julia moved in 1989 and hopped a little. She worked at Jonas's bar, then went to Hooters for two years, before finally settling down on Lucca's restaurant. She was a good employee, quiet, a little bit Gothic if you know what I mean."

Morgan stopped at the threshold of the house, looking at the detective curious about that bit of information. "Why do you say that?"

"Ah," Keenan scratched his head, looking chagrined to the floor as he rolled on the balls of his feet. "You know the type: eternally depressed, heavy makeup, always talking about death and dead people. She wasn't a bad person, she just had some weird ideas about stuff that made her stand out."

"Has she ever said anything about being Goth or any other punk movement?"

"No, she only did the walk. Used the clothes. Kept to herself, never talking much, but she wasn't you know... good in her head."

They've finally reached the empty room where the body had been found. There were still ropes hanging from a ceiling bean, where she had been tied to be flogged. The blood spatter indicated that the torture had been merciless.

"Do you have any idea if she was being treated for her depression?"

"Her boyfriend, Ty Grisson, told me she had meetings twice a month with her psychologist. He even gave me a name, a Dr. Norma Dreyfuss, but up until now we haven't been able to find any psychologists by this name."

"Really?" Prentiss knelt where some bloodied cloths were piled, right close to the drawing of a body on the floor.

"Why did he take so long to report her missing? Is he a suspect in the case?"

"Nah... he's a computer programmer and he had been attending a work seminar in Chicago for the weekend. We had him checked and there are plenty of pictures and videos attesting he was miles away while this was happening."

"So he reported her missing only when he came back."

"Yeah. He spoke to her on Friday, before he flew to Chicago. That's the last time they've spoken to each other. He kept calling her on the weekend, but she didn't answer him. He just assumed it must have been because of their fight, so he left her be, simmering her anger until his return."

"They had a fight before he left?" Morgan went to the opposite wall, checking the locks of the windows carefully bolted shut.

"Yeah. Big one. Apparently she begged him not to go, because she was having one of her visions again."

"Visions?" Prentiss looked at him, her eyebrows going up and she exchanged a glance with Morgan, who turned to look at the detective.

Keenan checked his phone, seeing the beeping of an incoming message on the screen.

"Yeah, she was strange like that. She told him that she had dreamt that Master Swanson was near and angry at her. She kept telling him that red eyes were watching her on their bed. He shrugged it off as one of her episodes, told her to call her psychologist and left."

Morgan went around the broken furniture, closer to the place where a huge pool of dried blood was accumulated on the floor.

"I bet he regretted it deeply."

"Ah... yep, he did."

NCIS NCIS NCIS CM CM CM CM

After looking around the crime scene and a long interview with a crying boyfriend, they had more doubts than answers to their questions. The other crime scenes had turned cold a long time ago, most victims being loners as well.

No close relatives, no close friends, just a few work acquaintances who all said that their victims were cautious to say the least in their interactions with others.

But they've found one tiny bit of connection between them so Morgan decided to call up the best trooper he has ever known.

"Talk dirty to me." Penelope Garcia, tech extraordinary from the BAU, also the most colorful and happy person they've ever met.

"Baby girl." Morgan grinned as he heard the tech's voice.

"Hello my lickable chocolate god."

"I need you to look up something for me."

"Shoot."

"I need you to look up in our FBI files or in the web for any mention to a case where there is mention of Master and Servant in the same context of the name Swanson, okay?"

"Are you looking for a sadomasochism parlor bust or what?"

"Garcia, our victim mentioned that the Master Swanson was coming for her a couple of days before her death. We need to find out who she was talking about."

"Okie dokie! Garcia out!"


	19. Whispers of the past

_**Chapter **__**19: Whispers of the past **_

That afternoon Gibbs drove down the tree lined lane until the Dodge Charger stopped in front of the small house on Springdale Road, Virginia, just a couple of yards away from the ferry line.

He killed the engine and looked beside him, finding McGee studying the house without expression on his face, observing every detail of the ample backyard ending with a thin line of threes and a clothes line where several bed sheets were hanging in the light summer breeze.

Both men stayed in silence, enjoying the opportunity of studying the home of the former Knox family. Apparently, the Knox family had lived in that house for the last fifty years and when Dilan's father died the young marine inherited it, as his older sister had been living with her husband at that time.

But Dylan disappeared in 1983, Dora Jensen, nee Knox, became a widow in 1986 and finally decided to move back into the old house with her two children. Dora was six years older than Dylan and had as her home address the old house inSpringdale Road.

Gibbs sighed as McGee's eyes stared fixedly at an old truck tire hanging from a tree in the end of the backyard, its rope blackened by the years. He could actually imagine the late marine running after a toddler, playing with her on the grass and slowly pushing her on the tire, her long brown her floating in the breeze as she giggled and shouted for more.

But that was never meant to be.

Gibbs opened the door of the Charger and left the car, startling McGee out of his contemplative state and making him come out of the car as well, at the same time the screen door of the house opened and a small brunette teenager left the house with a monster of a dog, almost as big as herself.

She tried to hold his leash but the big brown and gray dog, as soon as he saw the newcomers, started barking and escaped, running towards them with long steps, its tongue lolling out of his mouth as it ate up the short distance towards them.

McGee glued himself on the door, his hand immediately going to his gun as flashes of his less than friendly meeting with Jethro the dog came to his mind.

Gibbs saw that and quickly shouted at the same time the girl did.

"Hulk, no!"

"McGee, no!"

The dog jumped on McGee, its gigantic paws resting on his shoulders, the dog almost as tall as the agent and did something that brought giggles to the girl and a grin to Gibbs' face: it started licking McGee's cheek with huge dog kisses, slobbering his face all over.

"Argh." McGee stayed frozen, his hand still twitching over his gun, but the dog simply wanted to say hi, grinning silly at the tall agent.

"Hulk, you idiot. I should have you castrated for that. I've told you not to jump strangers. They might kill you!"

The dog just glanced back at her, its huge head a few inches higher than McGee's, its tongue hanging to the side grinning with a sloppy doggie smile.

"Ah... do you mind taking your dog away?" McGee said as the monster dog started sniffing his collar.

The teenager, not older than thirteen in the first bloom of womanhood, approached them and took the leash from the floor, dragging the dog away from them, not by force - as she had no chance against that monster's muscles - but with only a gentle tug the beast let go, putting its four paws back on the floor.

Even that way, the dog was almost as tall as the short girl.

"I'm sorry for that but he gets agitated when we have visitors. He's meant no harm, he is just a big baby."

McGee took a handkerchief and started cleaning the slobber from his chin and cheek, still feeling shaken from his encounter with the huge dog.

"You'd better keep him on his line. People might get scared and end up hurting him." He couldn't help grinning as the huge dog lay on the floor with its paws up and danced, begging to be petted. "What breed is he?"

The young brunette grinned, her dimples shining on her cheeks and complementing her dark brown eyes as she knelt on the floor, rubbing the dog's belly getting excited whimpers from the beast.

"He's an Irish Wolfhound, one of the largest breeds ever."

"I can see that." Gibbs said, his gaze flickering from the dog, to the girl, finally resting on the house.

"Is your mom home?" Gibbs decided to go straight to business.

"No, mom is onRichmond, working, but grandma is at home. What are you guys selling?" She asked, her gaze going from the car to their jackets, studying them.

"We're not selling anything." Both agents took their badges and showed them to the girl, who properly ahh'ed on them and stared with big eyes, impressed. "This is Special Agent Gibbs and I'm Special Agent McGee, from NCIS. We need to talk to your grandmother."

"Okay."

She stood up, being followed in motion by the dog, who also stood up and went closer to the car, sniffing at the very interesting clean tires.

"NANAAAAA!" The little girl shouted, making both agents flinch at the high decibels hitting their ears.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Lorelei, but everyone calls me Rori, just like in the TV series." She grinned, showing her dimples again. "I've never heard of NCIS. What do they sell?"

"We're not selling anything. Oh... no no!" McGee rushed to take the line of the dog from her hand, but it was too late.

The dog had already peed on the Charger tire.

"Oops." She said.


	20. Please remember me

**_Chapter 20: Please remember me_**

"Dylan was such a good boy. He used to bring wounded birds to the house, begging me to help him heal them." Dora Jensen said, slowly going towards the mantle and taking in her arthritic hands one framed picture from the many displayed there, smiling softly at it as she approached McGee and Gibbs sitting on the sofa sipping mint tea.

Dylan's sister was a tall woman, her high forehead now creased with lines that suffering and age burdened her with, thin lips which now and then showed hints of a smile, along with thin pianist fingers which ended in clear filed fingers. Her hair, once a wild mass of brown curls which had reached down the middle of her back during her Hippie phase in the seventies, now had thinned and framed her face in a bob cut. She wore no jewelry, little makeup, and an Indian styled dress which must have been fashionable sometime around early eighties.

Rori came into the living room with a tray overflowing with several types of cookies - oatmeal, coconut and chocolate - smiling brightly to the agents as she carefully set the tray on the small center table.

Meanwhile, the huge Irish wolfhound was lying near the fireplace, snoring almost as loudly as Ziva does, its legs moving as if it were running after rabbits on its dreams.

"When was the last time you saw or spoke to Dylan before his disappearance, Mrs. Jensen?" Gibbs asked, taking the offered picture and finding the same smiling young man they've found in their files back in NCIS.

Dora poured herself some tea, shaking her head sadly. "I spoke to him on the Monday before his disappearance. He called me that morning to tell me about a job offer he had received the week before. He wasn't sure if it would be a good career move so he asked for my opinion."

"Was he tense, nervous or irritated at all? Anything that might have caught your attention?"

Dora shook her head, glancing at her granddaughter who as kneeling by the big dog rubbing his fur on his belly. Hulk would then whimper softly in his sleep, bringing a smirk to the young girl's face.

"It was a long time ago, I've told all that to the investigators then. Is there any reason why you're digging all that up once again?"

Dora studied the two agents, seeing the younger man fiddling with the china cup in his hand, looking at her carefully, studying her features as if trying to remember her, as if they've met before, but his mind couldn't come up where.

"What is going on?" Dora asked and she breathed deeply as the younger man lowered his head, his eyes on the center table, unable to meet her eyes.

"Ma'am..." he glanced at Rori silently playing with the dog and she got the message.

"Rori dear, would you go check my e-bay account, please? I think that nice French commode would end its bidding sometime today."

"Sure grandma, I'll do it." The girl stood up and ran upstairs, banging a door violently as she went by.

Dora waited for silence to reign on the house again, before turning to the two agents sitting in her living room. "Now would you mind telling me what are you hiding?"

"Ma'am," McGee glanced at Gibbs who nodded so he could go ahead. "We believe we've found Staff Sergeant Knox's mortal remains."

Her face scrunched a little and her eyes filled with tears, but she held back her emotions as she slowly sat her tea cup on the center table as it started to shake in her hands.

"What makes you think that this time... it's really him? It has happened before, you know."

Both agents sat straighter on the sofa, silently questioning what she could possibly be talking about.

Dora sighed, "Five years ago, a private investigator knocked on my door saying she was working on a missing person's case and my brother's file had landed on her hands."

"She? Are you saying that a woman came by asking for your brother's case? What did she want? Who was she?" McGee leaned and deposited the empty cup on her table, eager to hear more.

"She was a PI from… Delaware, I think. She just told me that new evidence had come up and that she needed something of his to run a DNA test... on a corpse found in Illinois."

McGee looked at Gibbs, "The last flogged victim was in Illinois." He turned to her, "And do you remember her name? Did she send you the results of the testing?"

"No, I don't remember her name. Strider. Star. Something with an S. But, a few weeks later she came by again and said that the test was wrong as Dylan wasn't a match to the DNA of the course she had found."

Gibbs dropped the pretense of drinking his tea, placing the china on the table, "Did she by any chance mention why she had considered the possibility of that corpse being Dylan's?"

Dora shrugged, "All she told me was that she was being paid to find the biological father of a young woman in Delaware. And that young woman had somehow believed that body was her father's but she also believed him to be Dylan. But it was a mistake. Her employer wasn't my Lorelei and the corpse found wasn't Dylan."

McGee gulped before he looked at Dora again. "What can you tell us about..." His voice quivered, so he had to clear his throat before continuing. "... about... Lorelei?"

Dora bit her lower lip, lifting her face as she felt her eyes filling with tears again, answering in a very emotional voice.

"She was the sweetest baby I've ever held in my arms. So tiny. Rory was named after her, because we didn't want the name to die out."

"I can't help but noticing you haven't mentioned Lorelei's mother yet." Gibbs said.

"Ah… Laura died after giving birth to Lorelei. She was sick but we didn't know how serious it really was and," Dora turned her head so she could gaze to the backyard through the glass windows, observing the tire hanging from the tree trunk outside, "when we finally found out, it was too late."

"How sick?" McGee asked, feeling a shiver running up his spine at that news.

"Ah... it was some kind of woman's problem. She had very bad pain you know when..." Dora touched her tummy, "when it was that time of the month; she had to stay in bed because the pain was excruciating. It was something named... indo... ando.."

"Endometriosis," McGee murmured, lifting his eyes to meet Dora's surprised gaze on himself.

"Yes, that's it. But it was complicated because she developed eclampsia during the last months of Lorelei's pregnancy. It was a real surprise when she got pregnant because they had already given up as the doctors had told them she would never conceive again."

"Wait a minute, you've just said _again_? Did Lorelei have siblings?" Gibbs asked, receiving a headshake from the old lady.

"No, you got it all wrong. Lorelei didn't have any siblings but Laura had been pregnant before. She had a miscarriage on her third trimester a couple of years before Lorelei were born. It almost killed her."

"Oh my... And Dylan still insisted on having children?" McGee shook his head, not understanding what could lead a man to be so desperate to have children to the point of risking his wife's life.

"No... You've misunderstood again. That child was Laura's but not Dylan's. Laura had gotten pregnant from her school sweetheart, back in her senior year in high school, but he left her as soon as she told him she had a bun in the oven." Dora closed her eyes, trying to remember that period in the late seventies. "Today it might be a common thing but at that time, a sixteen year old girl pregnant before graduating from high school... You can imagine the scandal it was."

"Yes ma'am, we do." Gibbs nodded.

"Her parents kicked her out of the house and she went to a church shelter for a few weeks but she was getting desperate. My brother had always been a little bit in love with her and he begged dad to hire her in our Bed and Breakfast in the city. He vouched for her saying that it was the Christian thing to do. He offered her a hand in her darkest hour and she grabbed it with all her strength."

"So they got together right after that." McGee asked but again he was surprised with her shaking her head.

"No... As soon as she had settled working with my dad Dylan went to the Marine's training. While he was at the boot camp she stayed here, enduring the accusing stares of the town but dad soon took the girl under his wings. She worked hard but … she was a frail thing. She had no idea of how bad her problem was and we only found out when dad found her bleeding in the bathroom. But it was already too late. The baby was gone."

They stayed in silence for a moment, mourning for a moment a life that had never had the chance to come to the light.

"How... how far along was she?" McGee asked, feeling the well known tendrils of panic coiling around his heart.

"She was already eight months pregnant. It was a boy." Dora lifted a hand to wipe a tear from her lined face, not noticing that McGee was doing the same thing.

"So... where was Dylan when all that happened?" Gibbs asked, getting a soft smile from Dora as she remembered her little brother.

"He took leave from the boot camp and came home, just to nurse her back to health. Dad said that he knew Dylan was in love with her, but Laura was too traumatized to start anything right away. So he waited, they became friends... then confidants... they used to write long letters to each other while he was deployed somewhere. Dylan once told me that her letters were the things that kept him sane, the reason why he did his best to stay safe, because he wanted to come back to her.

They stayed like that for three years, until he came back from one of his long deployments and he simply walked up to her and kissed her, right in the middle of the dining room of the B&B. In front of my Dad, me, our guests. He simply went to her and kissed her, out of nothing, and told her he loved her and that he wanted to marry her. She of course accepted and then they were married shortly after that."

"And then they were supposed to live happily ever after... but they didn't, did they?" Gibbs said, aware of how the story ended.

"No." Dora sighed, leaning back and closing her eyes, seeing the past unfold before her eyelids. "They lived happily for four years. Lorelei was a surprise baby, they were being careful as the doctors said it might be dangerous for her to try another pregnancy. They were so happy and also afraid when she found out they were expecting a baby."

Dora opened her eyes. "You've said you've found Dylan's body. Any idea of what might have happened with my Lorelei?"

"We..." McGee glanced at Gibbs, who didn't move a single muscle on his face, letting McGee lead the conversation. "We have reason to believe that whoever killed Dylan took Lorelei. We are investigating it yet. Do you by any chance have any pictures of that time? So we can use it for facial recognition or some tests."

Dora smiled and struggled to stand up. Gibbs hurried to her side, helping the old lady and he received a grateful smile from her.

"I've got something even better. Follow me."


	21. A glimpse of the past

_**Chapter 21: A glimpse of the past**_

_**What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now. ~Author Unknown**_

The two agents followed the old lady through the corridors of her house, until they finally arrived to an old man's room. It had obviously belonged to the old Knox's patriarch, with game heads hanging on the walls and a black leather sofa in a corner.

Dora motioned to the agents that they should a seat as she opened an old cupboard revealing a very old super eight projector.

She glanced at the two agents and Gibbs took the hint, closing the window with the heavy curtains sinking the room in darkness, while McGee rushed to close the door.

Once they were all settled, Dora carefully put a roll in the camera and, after some drizzle, a video started rolling and they were transported to a different time, with different people but with very familiar faces.

McGee gulped as he saw the first images of Dylan talking animatedly with Laura in the same living room he had just sat to have tea. An older man who must have been the old Knox was standing beside them, talking and laughing.

Laura was a spitting image of nowadays Joy, her long brown curly hair floating over her back. She was in a white peasant's shirt with a tie-dye skirt, seeming to be extremely happy and content with her life.

The video kept rolling and it showed several snippets of the Knox's life together: a family dinner, a barbecue in the backyard. It also showed a few scenes of their wedding day as well as some minutes of them quietly sitting together, Dylan smiling as he hugged his wife from the back, his hands protectively resting over her distended pregnant belly.

McGee's gut clenched as he saw Laura's happiness, how she threw her head back to laugh exactly as he had seen Joy doing so many times, or how she would lean her head to the side to stare at Dylan, who would simply grin at her and keep talking to the camera.

Finally there are no more images of Laura, just of Dylan and a very tiny little baby. Whoever is holding the camera makes a real close up to her face, showing tiny pouty lips and almost closed eyes, the hair showing just a wisp of what would become curls later on.

Dylan looked exhausted and there was an aura of sadness around his eyes, but he would still smile to the little girl in his arms.

McGee gulped and sighed as it finally showed a shot of the little girl crawling around the living room floor, Dylan gently calling her name and asking her to look at the camera. Next shot showed the little girl running in the backyard of the house, several colorful toys here and there and Dylan lying on the floor, sometimes holding the laughing toddler over his head, as she moved her arms and legs, squealing happily.

It cut to a child's birthday party in which Lorelei's face all dirty of chocolate as her she tried to grab the chocolate cake with her fat fingers, bringing it to her mouth but managing only of making a big mess. Dylan sat beside her and the little girl took a bit of the cake and offered to her daddy, who ate out of her hand and the little girl squealed happily, managing to rub chocolate all over his face.

"That was a couple of weeks before their disappearance." Dora said as the video was cut, showing only the flickering image on the empty wall. "I can't tell you how many times I've locked myself in here watching that tape, over and over again, trying to understand what did I miss? What could I have done differently?"

She looked at them, seeing pain and understanding in their eyes. "I was never able to figure out the answer to those questions."

"There was nothing you could have done differently." Gibbs gently said, remembering the same questions running through his head after his own family's murders.

"Well... We will never know, will we?" She went to the window, opening the curtains abruptly. "Now... thanks for informing me that you've found his body. Now I'll be able to give him a proper burial. I have no hopes of finding Lorelei, but I'll arrange a headstone for her as well. It is past time for me to bury by dead."

"But..." McGee stood up, his eyes blinking repeatedly against the sunlight coming from the window. "Are you simply going to give up on her? We've found only one corpse. She might still be alive."

"My dear, hope is a terrible thing. And she was only four years old when he disappeared. She held no chance of surviving on her own... and in the very unlikely event of the bastard who killed my brother took her with him... she is most likely dead. I can't live on hope anymore." She turned her back to McGee, slowly putting away the projector.

"What if... she was alive? What would you do?"

Dora stopped, turning around to stare at the young man looking at her with those deep green eyes begging and trying to transmit something that she hadn't felt for a long time.

"What are you saying, Agent McGee. Do you know where my Lorelei is?"

Gibbs took a step towards the old lady, glancing briefly to McGee before taking the initiative.

"Ma'am, she is alive. And we know where she is." Gibbs said, seeing the emotions fluttering on Dora's face. First disbelief, pain, hope, despair, finally ending up on hope again as she took a step towards the old marine, her voice quivering as she asked softly.

"How? Where?"

McGee silently took his iPhone out, going to the picture directory. He chose one of his favorite pictures and showed to Dora, whose hands started to shake violently as she gently held the phone in her hands.

"This is Joy Buchanan McGee, Ma'am... and she's my wife."

Dora looked up at McGee, before looking down to Joy's picture. McGee took a step forward and showed her how to see the next pictures. Dora gasped as she was shown several pictures of Joy and McGee together, finally stopping in one of them smiling at their wedding day.

"Oh, Lorelei. My Lorelei."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Two hours later, they left the old Knox's household with a box of old letters, a few photography albums and the precious copy of the video they watched in the office, all with the promise of returning the things in the same state they were and bringing the long lost child back home.


	22. Questions, Questions

_**Chapter 22: Questions, Questions and more questions**_

_**We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future. - George Bernard Shaw**_

Meanwhile back in NCIS headquarters, Tony guided Sergeant Major Patrick Dwyer, Sergeant Knox's former supervisor, into the conference room, where Ziva stood up to receive him with a smile. Dwyer was in his best uniform, his badges silently telling a life dedicated to the Marine Corps. His deeply tanned skin bespoke of hours under the sun, either deployed or in training, but Tony and Ziva could see deep intelligence shining in his sharp grey eyes.

He took Ziva's hand and shook it, squeezing it with the exact measure of force of a man aware of his strength and not easily intimidated by a beautiful woman like Ziva.

"Sir."

"Ma'am."

Ziva pointed to one of the chairs and waited until all were seated to start her questions.

"Are you aware why you were brought here today, Sergeant Major Dwyer?"

"I haven't been formally told but I'm guessing it has something to do with NCIS finding Sargent Knox's mortal remains."

"You are well informed, Major Dwyer." Tony commented, glancing at Ziva who was still studying Major Dwyer without blinking.

"Ah... you would be surprised at how fast news runs between the boys at Pentagon. They are worst than a bunch of old ladies gossiping. I have to confess that I'm relieved that you've found his body because I've never believed the theory of him going AWOL with his daughter just because he didn't want to accept a new post. If he disappeared, something must have happened to his daughter."

"What makes you think so?" Tony asked, tapping lightly the pen on the table.

"He was crazy for that little girl. His whole world was that kid."

"So you've always suspected foul play." Ziva exchanged a glance with Tony, before focusing her attention back in Dwyer.

Dwyer sighed, before folding his calloused hands over the table and looking Ziva straight in the eye, "Indeed, ma'am. But I've never had any proof and the investigators couldn't find anything that collaborated with that hypothesis."

"What else can you tell us about Sergeant Knox? Did he have any enemies? Was he involved in anything that might have resulted in his death?"

"Do you believe he was murdered?"

"The evidence points to that hypothesis." Tony said, without going into further details. There was no need to tell him of the two bullet holes in the corpse.

Dwyer shrugged, "He wasn't involved in anything dangerous or illegal if that's what you are asking. It's been so long ago... he was filing supplies lists to some regiments at the south regiments, mostly office stuff, no guns or weapons or anything that might get him killed. We were also quite involved in three seminars, supplying them with … well, everything they might need for a week long seminar."

"Did he have any enemies?" Ziva asked.

"I wasn't very close to him but according to the investigation done at that time nobody in the Corps was in the suspects list. As I've said before, he didn't have much of a life outside of the office as he was totally focused on raising his child."

"You've said in the Corps... Any reason why you would suspect someone outside the Corps?" Trust Tony to hit the nail in the head.

Sergeant Major Dwyer paused, his gaze becoming unfocused as he tried to remember facts that had happened almost three decades before. He frowned and finally glanced at Tony, slowly nodding.

"Ah... I don't know if it is relevant but there was this guy..."

"What guy?"

"Williams. I don't remember his first name. He used to pester Knox and I even had to call Knox's attention regarding the disturbances caused by this bloke. The man tried to ignore him but Williams always came back, like a bad weed."

"Any idea of who this Williams could be?" Tony insisted, eager for a clue.

"I don't know exactly the history between them two... but I think Williams was his wife's ex. After she died, Williams started pestering Dylan, telling him that it was his fault that Laura was dead. But nobody paid attention to him, as the guy was a loser and a drug addict and we all knew that Laura had died due to birth complications. There was nothing the man could have done to prevent it, it's just one of those sad things that happen to good people and makes you wonder, Why? Why did it have to happen? Knox was an emotional wreck after Laura died and I really doubt he would have any will to live left if it hadn't been for that little girl. But back to Williams, I remember vividly at least two incidents of Williams appearing at the base and trying to pass the gates. He had to be forcibly removed from the premises."

"Any idea of where we might find this Williams?"

"I have no idea. The guy simply disappeared one day and we've never heard of him again." He frowned, a startled look on his face. "Actually, he disappeared around the same time Knox and his kid did."


	23. Pain will train me to achieve

_**Chapter 23: _Pain will train me to achieve_  
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Gibbs and McGee arrived from their visit to the Knox's household a couple of hours after Ziva and Tony dismissed Major Sergeant Dwyer. Hotch and Rossi had stayed at the NCIS headquarters and had quietly requested to see Knox's mortal remains so they could elaborate an initial profile on the cold case too.

After a few hours building theory with Ducky and Jimmy, they were standing by Gibbs' desk looking at the crime scene photos in the plasma with Ziva while Tony followed some leads on what they had been able to uncover in their initial interview.

"Do you have some news?" Gibbs asked instead of greeting the Feds.

"Do you have anywhere we can setup a conference with our technical analyst? She told us she has some news she would like to share." Hotch asked.

"Yep," Gibbs waved a hand to the agents silently indicating MTAC.

They promptly moved to the secured room and, once within its secure walls, Gibbs pointed to the techs. Hotch immediately started talking with them in hushed tones, setting up the conference while Gibbs had the chance of grilling his own agents.

"Any findings with Knox's former supervisor?"

"No known enemies in the Corps, brilliant employee, yadda yadda but..." Tony said just to be interrupted by Ziva.

"We have a name, Gibbs."

"You do?"

Tony nodded, "Apparently Joy's mother had a persistent ex. Once she died at birth, he decided to blame Knox for it and he had in several occasions visited the base trying to make Knox's life hell."

"We've been able to find several reports of him being arrested for misconduct in public as well as assaulting a marine officer." Ziva added.

"Who?" McGee asked interrupting the agents.

"He once assaulted Knox but Joy's father never pressed charges." Tony noticed the nervousness in his colleague's eyes and the meaningful glances exchanged between Gibbs and McGee. "And what did you find?"

"A lot, but we can talk about it in the bullpen later." Gibbs said dismissively, "Any idea why Knox never pressed charges?"

"The guy was a loser. I think he pitied him."

The image suddenly flickered in the screen and the face of a pale woman with bright red hair appeared in it. Her purple shirt somehow matched her eye shadow and her lipstick, making her appear a surreal painting looking at them.

"Hello my pretties!" The woman shouted, her face breaking into a huge grin.

Hotch forced down a smile as he made the proper introductions, "Agent Gibbs, this is our technical analyst Penelope Garcia. Garcia, this is Buchanan's team in NCIS, Agents Gibbs, DiNozzo, David and McGee."

"I remember you from the wedding." McGee said, receiving a grin from the redhead.

Garcia smiled brightly at the NCIS agents until her gaze finally rested on McGee, who received an appreciative growl. "And I remember you too, gorgeous groom. We haven't been formally introduced but I have to say Joy has good taste."

McGee smiled and blushed at her lustfilled gaze, making the other agents lightly chuckle at the tech.

"Garcia, what do you have?"

"Patience, my Lord and liege. Pure genius cannot be rushed." She started typing furiously, her gaze on a screen somewhere on the side of the camera.

"Morgan told me to look for a certain parameter and I've searched the DC area, then I've expanded to the tri-state area and finally I've done a country wide search."

"What parameter?" Rossi asked.

"He told me to look up Federal and State cases that might have the mention of Masters and Servants somewhere together, include physical punishment element and specifically the flogging... as well as the name Swanson."

"Why such parameters?" Rossi folded his arms, his question resounding in the MTAC.

Garcia blinked to the camera behind her kitten glasses, "Morgan said that the last victim insisted that _Master Swanson_ had found her and he would punish her for abandoning the path. She was under psychiatric care, a little bit nuts but her neurosis might have been a direct result of abuse she had suffered at a younger age."

Gibbs asked, "What kind of abuse?"

"I've accessed her psychotherapy files - I know, it's illegal, but I've done it anyway - and... there are plenty of these."

She clicked something on her computer and a small slide show appeared on the screen, showing the back of a pale woman in different angles, all pictures showing the faint parallel lines all over her back.

The agents gasped at the extent of the scaring while Garcia clicked on the next image.

"Her doctors believed she had been beaten repeatedly for a period of time during her childhood with a Cat-o-nine tails, a type of flogging weapon."

"Ouch." Tony said, shivering as he imagined the pain it must have been.

McGee however was looking transfixed at it. "Garcia, was she aware of how she's got those scars?"

"According to her therapy files, she was abused as a child, escaped her tormentor, never spoke a word about it again. But she had always repeated like a mantra… ah where is it? Here," Garcia leaned forwards to read something in the screen. "Master Swanson's orders were clear: _Pain will train me to achieve_. However she never really explained what she was supposed to achieve."

"She was indoctrinated to believe it." Rossi turned to Hotch, who was rolling the words in his mind.

"It was a cult. She escaped from a cult group." Hotch looked up to Garcia, "Did you find anything?"

"I've found plenty of sadomasochism parlors, demon worshiping cults and the like, but none with all these elements together until I've found a brief mention of a cultlike organization which was hunted and shut down by a joint DEA & FBI task force in the early months of 1987."

Tony shuddered at the idea, "Who were they?"

"They were the Zenith, a bunch of people who were into crystals, power of the mind over the body and this type of stuff."

"Sounds like a spa to me." Rossi muttered, receiving glares from Gibbs and Hotch.

"But the crystal worshipping thing was just a cover for their real activities. Their leader - Liam Swanson - was a real figure. Money laundering, white collar crimes, human trafficking, extortion, blackmail, kidnapping and murder are only a few of the crimes he was accused of when he was finally arrested in 1987.

Once he was arrested, several of his wives and concubines were found in the property he used as headquarters. Along with children, most of them he claimed were his flesh and blood. Most of those arrested in the property were higher than a kite, almost out in the stratosphere and all had been brainwashed into his cult like following. They had been addicted to heavy psychotropic drugs and every other type of vile stuff known to man."

"What made you think he is somehow connected to our Illinois victim?" Rossi asked.

Garcia clicked her tongue, squinting at the camera, "Not only our Illinois victim. All four or them."

"Explain." That picked Gibbs' curiosity.

"I was able to access the FBI files of those found in the compound at the moment the strike team arrived and take a look at this."

Four pictures appeared on the screen showing their victims, their faces forever sculpted in the rictus of death. Parallel to them, a line of four pictures appeared under them, showing the same person, twenty plus years younger.

"They were all at that compound at the time of the raid." Garcia added, her disembodied voice resounding over the gasps of surprise in the MTAC.

"How did they miss that in the initial investigation of the murders? Are they all under fake names?" Ziva asked, outraged to the grave mistake of the initial investigators.

"Yep. Witness protection since 1988. The initial investigation didn't dig that far, and as all of them found a place where to place their roots and hadn't moved around for more than twenty years, there was nothing that might remotely indicate that they had been murdered due to something that happened back in the eighties."

McGee frowned as he considered the evidence at hand. "If they were all in witness protection, how is our unsub finding them?"

"That's for him to know and you guys to find out. I have no idea."

"That's why he is taking such a long time between killings. He needs time to locate them before he attacks." Rossi said.

"Where is this Swanson now?" Gibbs asked.

"He's been in a Michigan Federal Prison since we was sentenced to life several times over in 1988 and guess what?"

"Garcia?" Hotch's voice held a little bit of impatience, so the colorful tech babbled fast.

"It was a Federal case investigated in a joint task force between DEA and FBI and... one of the main investigators is still alive, living in Virginia just an hour away from Quantico."

"Do you have a name?"

"Special Supervisory Agent Karl Lindenberg, retired."


	24. Dead End

_**Chapter 24 – Dead End**_

After talking with Garcia, Gibbs insisted that they should reconvene at Vance's office in order to update the Director on the status of the investigation.

"So we have a cult leader in jail since 1988, all victims somehow connected to him as they were part of his following, a retired FBI agent who probably has no idea what this is about and an angry ex who might - but no one is sure how - be involved in the demise of a marine. Did I cover all the facts?"

"All the basic facts we currently have, yes." McGee said, receiving a nod from Rossi.

"But you've missing something here." Vance went to his plasma, putting a Western US map on it. "Sergeant Knox was killed in Langley, Virginia. This cult headquarters was in the suburbs of Detroit. Your flogged victims were all over the Route 66. How are you going to prove they are all connected to Agent Buchanan?"

Rossi glanced at Hotch, who glanced at the map before speaking to the Director, "We're still going through the initial reports and pictures, but we have reason to believe that the paperwork has been sanitized. There are no mentions of any child whose description remotely matches Joy in the reports. We're going to Lake Anna to meet and interview SSA Lindenberg. He might have information which wasn't put on file."

"Who is he?"

"He was the task force leader back in 1987." Hotch volunteered the information.

"And you think he might have an insight on how two crimes more than twenty years apart may be interconnected."

"If he was in the raid and if he was responsible for the interviews with the people arrested in it, he might have heard - or even met - a child who might match Joy's description." Hotch said.

"We're all working on the assumption that she was in that compound when the raid was made. What evidence you have that might support this premise?"

Everyone looked at McGee who gulped before answering the unspoken questions. "The Illinois victim's scars match Joy's."

"But we knew that already. What's your point?"

McGee shook his head, "I'm not talking about the ones unsub made on her until she died. I'm taking about the ones she had carried her whole life on her back, resultant from an abuse that lead to a severe mental breakdown and forced her to live a life under heavy psychotropic drug and intense therapy."

Vance gritted his teeth, eager to find a new toothpick but unwilling to use one in front of the FBI agents again. "Are you suggesting that she was already heavily scarred before being flogged to death?"

Abby nodded to the Director, "We were able to access her medical files. Her old scars match the ones on Joy's back and they must have been administered around the same time."

"So the same bastard had them beaten and now years later, when they finally put that chapter of their life behind he is..."

"He is hunting them down and killing them. He's tying lose ends." Gibbs said, watching the pictures of the four victims appearing on the screen again.

Vance wanted answers, but none was forthcoming, "How is he finding them?"

"We don't know yet. We've dug deeper and all our four victims were on Witness Protection for more than twenty years but somehow our unsub was able to locate them." Rossi said, closing the folder in his hand.

"Do you suspect an internal job?"

"Right now everyone involved with that initial case is a suspect, sir." Hotch replied, his eyes not leaving the reports in his hands.

"The ex. What do you have on him?"

Abby took a step further and started her exposition, showing a picture of a man graced with strong jaw, deep set eyebrows framing grey eyes and light blond hair cut in curls around his forehead.

"Trent Albert Williams. He was the quarterback from his high school team and daddy put him into a nice university when it was the right time. He was doing well until he started walking with bad people and things went from bad to worse."

"I've done an extensive search on this guy... and this is what I've found."

She put another picture on the plasma, this time showing a very different Trent. His hair was dirty, his eyes were sunk in his face and his mouth now had a cruel line added to it.

"He got addicted to heroin and from there he went for heavier drugs. He was suspended thanks to his use of illicit drugs and when he finally got clean enough to play again he busted his knee before the final games of that year. His career was over so he head dived in a path of self destruction. Heroin, cocaine, meth ... you name it, he tried it."

"He dated Laura Knox - nee Delgado - while she was in high school. When she got pregnant, he took the coward's way out and left her on her own.

A few years later, she rebuilt her life beside Knox. They lived happily for five years, but she died and Knox ended up with the guardianship of their only daughter.

That's when Williams rears his ugly head again and starts pestering Knox, accusing him of stealing his life. Knox even filed a restraining order against him but nothing came to that. He went underground right at the same time Knox went missing with his daughter. It was suggested foul play but he wasn't found for questioning during the initial NIS investigation and he disappeared in the forgetfulness sea of paperwork as the case became cold."

"Where is this Trent Williams now?" Gibbs asked just to receive a sad glance from Abby.

"In a pine coffin buried at the Potter's field of Woodmere Cemetery. He died of a heroin overdose back in 1986 in Detroit, MI."


	25. Building theory at the bullpen

_**Chapter 25 – Building theory at the bullpen  
><strong>_

After the meeting at Vance's office, the BAU and MRCT went to the bullpen to tackle their current tasks. Morgan and Prentiss were flying in from Illinois and would meet them directly at NCIS headquarters, while Rossi and Hotch agreed to go visit Lindenberg in Virginia.

Gibbs signaled to his agents that he would like to have a minute with them, before they went back to reviewing the initial NIS investigation reports from 1983. They were planning to check who was the investigator in charge and if he was still alive.

Rossi and Hotch said their goodbyes and left the bullpen at the exact moment that McGee came back from the garage carrying a huge card board box.

Gibbs watched the FBI agents leave and signaled to McGee to approach the desk with the box, aware that Tony and Ziva would follow his lead and gather around him.

"Abby, I have something here for you." Gibbs said, grabbing the box out of McGee's hands and placing over his own desk, digging around looking for something.

"What's it, bossman?"

Gibbs finally found a super eight movie roll and carefully put it into her hands as if it was the most precious thing in the whole earth.

"Cool. Movie night. What do you want me to do with it, Gibbs?"

"I need you to transport it to digital format so we can analyze the images in there. Maybe there's some clue in it that we haven't been able to catch the first time around."

"What is it, Gibbs?"

"Sergeant Knox's family videos." McGee murmured, his eyes fixed inside the box as he dug out a picture album from it. He walked towards his desk with the album in his hands and, once he was sitting, he reverently put it on his desk, he stared at the delicate rose right in the middle of the gray hardcover with a tense look in his eyes.

"And that?" Tony asked just to receive a _come here_ wave of head from McGee.

Once Tony was standing beside him, McGee reverently opened the album and showed him its contents. Ziva and Abby rushed to stand behind him, staring at it over his shoulders, looking fascinating to those snapshots of a long lost life, which none of them had any idea had ever existed.

"Oh my... She is..." Ziva couldn't find words to say.

"Sergeant Knox's wife. Her name was Laura Knox and she died when she gave birth to their only daughter, Lorelei, on the morning of November 13, 1979_**.**_" McGee whispered, his fingers softly touching the smiling face of Joy's birth mother, her dark eyes painfully reminding him of his wife's.

He flipped to the next page which showed a late 1970's wedding picture, a vibrant Dylan holding a laughing Laura in his arms, a beautiful lilies bouquet in her hands. There was a portrait of Laura with a yellow lily hanging from behind her ear, her long curly hair braided in a hippie way smiling brightly to the camera, a small diastema between her front teeth.

Joy inherited Laura's high cheekbones and deep brown eyes but her eyebrows and jaw line she undoubtedly inherited from Dylan, whose gray eyes showed his energy and enthusiasm for life in a picture where he is laughing with his sister.

"They were a very beautiful couple." Ziva said solemnly, touching a picture of the both newlyweds sitting in front of a porch, both in jeans and flannel shirts. "Is this their house?"

"Yeah, this is the Knoxes's home. Dora, Dylan's sister, has preserved the house exactly as it used to be when he lived there. She kept pictures, videos, furniture... always hoping that her brother... one day... would walk back into her life and things would go back to what they used to be."

"Oh man..." Tony put his hand on McGee's shoulder and squeezed, in a comforting gesture that brought a sad smile to the younger man's face.

"But it gets even better." McGee went to the end of the album, showing a smiling Dylan with a tiny, tiny baby in his arms, in a delicate white baby jumper.

"This is... Lorelei Knox."

"Ahhh..." Abby side hugged McGee as she looked at the tiny baby in the pictures, brown eyes looking a little cross eyed at the photographer somewhere to the left. "She was such a cute baby."

"Yeah, she was."

"Did you bring anything that I might use for DNA cross-examination?"

"There were plenty of personal effects that we could bring, but Dora gave us some baby brushes still with hair in it and some of Dylan's personal effects. I hope that is enough for you to definitely cross check with the DNA samples we have on file, both for Dylan's and for Joy's case."

"Okay, I'll rush with the tests then." She took the items from the table, eager to start working with her babies.

"Hey Abby." McGee called out before she left.

"Yes, Timmy."

"Ah... once you have the video digitalized, would you make me a copy on DVD?"

Abby smiled at him, knowing that he wanted to keep a copy of it to show to Joy later on. "Sure."

With that, she left skipping on her platform boots, her pigtails moving in the air.

"Why hasn't she ever investigated her own past? We were able to uncover so much in just a day and she chose to stay in the dark about her past her whole life. Why did she do that?" Ziva wondered out loud, receiving a shrug from Gibbs and McGee.

"We knew where to look for information, Ziva." Gibbs said, going to his desk and booting his computer. "She had no idea where to start."

"But she had access to the FBI files. She could have dug up a little. Rattle the tree to see if something fell from it." Tony said, shaking his hands in the air as if shaking a tree just to make his point.

"But she didn't have the whole picture to work with at that time. She had no memories of that time and the initial search made by the Buchanans came up with nothing. We know that there were people being abused in the Zenith's compound in a similar fashion Joy was abused but we are only assuming that she was at some point in the same place with the other victims. And there is no mention in the FBI files of a child that matches her description." McGee said in a patient tone, one of his fingers gently gliding over the baby pictures in his lap.

"Is there any chance of the file being expunged or changed by someone in the task force?" Ziva asked, glancing from Tony to Gibbs.

"No idea. It shouldn't have happened but it is a possibility. That's why Hotch must talk with the SAC of the task force. He would know if something had been cut out of the official reports."

"Why would they do that?" Ziva asked confused, aware of the strict protocol for the case paperwork that should be strictly followed.

Gibbs shrugged, preferring silence instead of answering the question. God only knows why people do the things they do at the FBI.

McGee stood up, running a hand through his hair before continuing, "Joseph met her for the first time at Detroit main train station several months after the FBI raid. He assumed that she had been living on the streets for a while due to her condition at that time.

Somehow the FBI must have lost track of her. She was mute at that time, so she couldn't offer any valuable information to the case back then. Maggie even said that, once they've finally adopted her, the doctors suggested that she might be autistic due to her antisocial behavior.

The FBI could simply have decided she wasn't a reliable witness and kept her out of the final paperwork."

Tony took the clicker in his hands and put a map on the plasma screen, going over it with his eyes.

"What's on your mind Tony?" McGee asked, seeing the frown in his team mate's forehead.

"Dylan Knox was murdered in Virginia. Lorelei Knox disappeared at the same time. At the same time, Trent 'druggie' Williams disappears only to appear again in 1986 in a cemetery in Detroit, Michigan. A mute kid, soon to become Joy Buchanan, is seen for the first time in a train station in Detroit back in 1987. Am I the only one seeing a pattern here?"

"How a lowlife like Williams reappeared in the same city and state where the kid of his archenemy reappeared only one year before his death?"

"Knox's supervisor mentioned that Williams accused Dylan of stealing the life he should have had. What do you think he might have meant with that?" Ziva wondered out loud, glad to see her teammates building theory together, putting the pieces of the puzzle in order.

"Maybe he didn't stick only to accusing him. Maybe he decided to steal it back." Gibbs said, standing up and going to the plasma where the map of the East Coast was being displayed.

"It is a good theory but the challenge now is to prove it." Ziva said in a depressed tone.

"Dig deeper. Try to find a connection between them somewhere."

"On it, Boss." His agents said.

They all went to their desks, back to their research while Gibbs went to the box still on his table. He delicately took a framed picture from it, where a beautiful Laura and a smiling Dylan could be seen. Gibbs studied it, seeing the young man's hands wrapped his wife's pregnant tummy, the careful way he touched her, his worry and care in transpiring in every gesture.

For a second, he had a very vivid flashback of himself and Shannon in the same situation, standing on the front porch of their home greeting a visitor of whom he couldn't for some reason remember the name.

It had been a beautiful spring morning and Shannon had attracted him out of the bed that morning with the scent of fresh coffee right under his nose.

She had blamed him for giving her heavy food, which kept their baby daughter awake for a long time, keeping mommy awake and making her grumpy.

He grinned at her and kissed her, their laughter filling the house before they went to the porch to greet the incoming visitors.

Finally Gibbs blinked and the memory of that long gone day was lost. He looked up and found McGee's eyes on him, a compassionate look in his face as he studied his Boss. The younger man could only imagine what was going on in Gibbs' head.

Gibbs carefully placed the picture on McGee's desk facing to the younger man and left, muttering, "I'm going to see Ducky."

McGee followed with his eyes Gibbs' hurried steps out of the bullpen, before finally settling them back on the picture on his desk. He stared at it for a while before his computer beeped and he finally went back to work.


	26. A Face from the Past

_**Chapter 26 – A Face from the Past**_

Hotch parked the Suburban in front of the number 19 of Liberty Drive in that small Virginia town. He noticed the carefully tended garden beside the green painted house with white windowsills, each overflowing with flowers and herbs. An old man in his seventies was working on a garden patch, a big box filled to the brim with flower bulbs by his side.

He was in jeans overalls and a very old shirt, which once must have been white, but now was mostly a grayish color thanks to several hours working with the fresh soil. His gnarled hands, weakened by a little bit of arthritis, shook as he dug up holes for his precious flowers, while his neck and scalp shone with sweat of the heat shining on him.

"Hello sir, sorry for disturbing your afternoon." Hotch called out as a greeting, getting the attention of the old man who glanced at them and studied them for a second, before turning his attention back to his garden.

"What can I do for you, city folk?"

"We're looking for SSA Karl Lindenberg." Rossi said to the old man digging up holes in the garden, his knees deeply buried in the freshly turned soil.

"Who are you? Why would you need to talk to him?" The man asked without lifting his gaze from his activity.

"We're SSA Aaron Hotchner and SSA Rossi from the FBI. We work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit and we have some questions for him."

The man put his tool aside and still kneeling, crawled to the next patch of soil, starting to dig up a new hole in it.

"BAU, uhm? I've heard about you guys."

He slowly stood up, taking his dirty gloves away and throwing them beside the flower filled boxes to his right.

"I'm Karl Lindenberg. What do you need?"

Karl took a rag from his tool box and started cleaning his hand in it, slowly approaching the two Feds by his picket fence.

"We would like to hear about a bust you've made in Detroit back in 1987." Hotch decided to go directly to what they were after. "You were in the task force which helped debunk the Zenith group, which in turn resulted in the arrest of its leader, Liam Swanson."

Lindenberg froze, barely breathing as he waited for them to finish. He stared at them with a surprised expression on his face for a second before he controlled his facial muscles to show no emotion.

"Why meddle with old affairs? The guy has been left to rot for years."

"We are not interested in the cult leader. We actually were wondering if you remember of someone involved in the case that might have been found in that compound. A little girl." Rossi said.

Lindenberg turned his back to the agents, slowly organizing his garden tools in a box and trying not to show the agents his curiosity.

"She couldn't be more than eight years old but she had long brown hair and brown eyes. There was something special about this girl, because she had dire need of medical attention as her back was covered with gashes, resultant of severe beatings." Rossi added, studying the old agent's reactions to their line of questioning.

"She was mute at that time but she would be called and would respond to the moniker of _Servant_." Hotch complemented, seeing the tension buildup on Lindenberg's shoulders.

The old agent turned to them, his grey eyes piercing Hotch as he studied the younger man with a very cunning expression.

"Why are you making questions?"

"Because we believe that someone who had been involved in that case might be looking for her now and he is killing people in the same way he used to punish her."

"He is flogging them to death." Rossi added, seeing the steel in Lindenberg's eyes as he stared at them.

"What makes you think she would be involved?"

"We've never said she was involved."

"Then I don't understand, why are you looking for her now? And why would this killer be after her now? It's been over twenty years!"

"He has carved the message '_where is the Servant'_ on the back of his victims before flogging them." Hotch revealed, seeing several different emotions flickering on the old Fed's face before his gaze finally rested on Hotch again.

"And how did you make the connection that this Servant would be her?" Lindenberg asked agitated, making both Hotch and Rossi worry about the old man.

"Sir?"

"How do you know about the Servant part? I've made sure that all and any mention of it had been expunged from the final reports."

"So you were the one responsible for keeping her existence out of the final reports." Rossi deduced from his reactions.

"Yes. But how did you find about her? About her scars? Unless..." The old FBI agent studied the hardened faces of the BAU agents. "Oh... you've found her, haven't you?"


	27. Revelations

**_Chapter 27 – Revelations_**

"Why have you kept her out of the official files?" Rossi asked, sipping his coffee in Lindenberg's living room.

The two BAU agents were sitting in a comfortable leather sofa in the old man's house, surrounded by his books and collectibles scattered over shelves and shelves covering the walls. The man had several scaled down airplanes, along with WWII memorabilia making the house seem like a small museum.

Lindenberg sighed as he sat down on his leather love chair, stretching his hand to get his cup of coffee from the center table.

"Her testimony was vital for the the case and I've suggested my supervisor that, for her own safety, she should be kept out of the paperwork."

"She was mute. How could she provide her witness' account of the facts she's seen?" Hotch asked studying the old agent over his cup rim.

"Uhm... she might been mute but that didn't necessarily mean that she couldn't communicate."

Lindenberg settled more comfortably in his seat, his cup firmly held in his hands as he reminisced about the past.

"Her face was extremely expressive and she answered all our questions with detailed drawings. People's faces, locations, illicit activities she had witnessed... any question we might need answers... all we needed to do was give her pen and paper and she would draw it in details... We would go to the place she drew and bang... the people and drugs or bodies would be there, exactly as she had drawn."

"How is that possible?"

"After some questioning with the other house inhabitants, we found out that was exactly what was her task was. As _Servant_, she had been trained to _supply _answers, correct answers, to Swanson for his enterprises. If she gave a wrong answer, she would be beaten."

"How did she get these answers?"

"She was doped with hallucinogenic drugs and kept underwater until she had visions - people called them Answers from the Masters. Whatever she had seen in those hallucinations she was supposed to draw... and Swanson used it as information for his business ventures."

"How would they know if she had the right answer? And why would they put their trust into the ramblings of a scared little girl … what... five, six years old?" Rossi couldn't hid his horror as he imagined a younger version of the woman he had met under the conditons the old fed was describing.

"Don't even ask. Up until now I have no idea what went through Swanson's mind regarding that. When questioned about that, he would only smile and clam up. He's never given any explanation on this."

Lindenberg stretched his legs in front of himself, his cup of coffee in his hands, sighing loudly and observing the two agents absorbing the information he had just given them.

"Whatever they've done to that girl, it must have worked because her drawings were always spot on. Once we realized that, we also realized the danger she would be in if word went out.

I've consulted my AD and told him of her unique situation. It was finally agreed that all mention of her existence would be expunged of the final reports and she would be placed under a fake name into the foster system. But that also went wrong."

"What happened?" Hotch asked.

Lindenberg kept silent, staring at his coffee.

"Sir?" Hotch insisted in a gentle voice, seeing the discomfort in the man's shoulders.

"Is she really alive?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thank God."

"I can't help but noticing that you feel... relieved."

Lindenberg sighed, looking aside sadly to painting of a shipwreck on a beach painted in vivid colors on his wall.

"I was going to adopt her, you know? I had already spoken to my wife then, telling about her, but it took a while to convince her to accept the care of a special needs child like her. She thought she wouldn't get along with our two boys then. I've gotten involved with paperwork, hearings and such and when I finally had the time to breathe and go after her... I was too late.

I've always felt like I've somehow failed her. I saved her life. I jumped into that dirty pond and took her out, stayed with her at the hospital. I've visited her every week until they finally placed her into a home."

"What happened then?"

"I got caught up with the arrangement of the case. Court hearings, depositions and stuff. We were eager to put that bastard in jail and throw away the key. Once it was over, months had already gone by.

When I finally requested to know where she was, they said that they couldn't inform me because it would disrupt her adaptation in her new home. I told them that was bullshit as I had already decided on adopting her.

I pushed until I was given the name of the family and the address she had been placed. But when I got there..."

Both Rossi and Hotch saw the anger in Lindenberg's face as he remembered what happened.

"That bastard... I had him arrested on sight. I've found the kids under his care either undernourished or tied and chained as animals to their beds. Two girls had been sexually molested by that perv, but she - the little girl I had gone after - was nowhere to be found."

"Did he explain what happened to her?" Rossi saw how Lindenberg gently wiped a stubborn tear, overwhelmed by the memories of the past.

"No... He simply said that one night a couple of days before I arrived there he ordered the girls to sleep and she was there. The following morning the kid wasn't there. He didn't even bother to report her missing. If word got out, Social Services would find out what a crappy foster father he was and he would lose the fat checks he was pocketing every month."

"She ran away."

"Yeah. And I've never heard from her again."

Lindenberg stopped and looked at the two agents, who were sharing a moment of silent communication. "But somehow I think you've known that part of the story already. Do you really know the kid?

"Yes, sir."

"So she is alive and well."

"Yes, sir."

"Have you... ever found out her name?"

"Her name? Didn't you even know her name back then?"

"Gosh, no. She was mute and everybody in the compound only called her _Servant_. Her case worker gave her a name, Anna, but she rarely responded to that. Whenever she was being questioned by me she responded better to pet names than by Anna."

"What kind of pet names?"

"I've always called her _little one_." Lindenberg smiled, remembering those long lost days at the hospital with the curious little girl in his arms. "She would always smile and hug me when I called her that."

All men kept silent as each considered their own memories. Lindenberg deep in the memories of the past while the younger agents remembered the adult woman they knew.

"So... what's her name?"

Hotch glanced at Rossi, who shrugged silently saying that it was the team leader's call to decide how much they should reveal to him.

Hotch stood up and took his phone, going to the picture directory, until he found a picture taken with the NCIS Agent and the BAU team members who had attended her wedding, where everyone was laughing.

He offered the phone to Lindenberg, who took the phone reverently from his hands and stared at it for a long moment before looking up at the BAU leader.

"Sir, her name is Joy Buchanan McGee. She has been officially adopted by the Buchanan family in Glasgow, Montana back in 1988 and, as she grew up, she ended up following the footsteps of her adoptive sisters and became an FBI agent. She has worked for a few years under my command before, after a series of events, she had to transfer out of the FBI. She is currently an NCIS agent assigned to NCIS headquarters in DC. And that's the picture of her wedding with her NCIS partner, Timothy McGee."

Lindenberg touched lightly the picture on the screen, feeling his heart thundering in his chest at the smiling woman in the picture surrounded by smiling people, including the serious looking man in front of him right now.

"So … she has become a Fed?"

"She's one of our finest agents, sir."

"But you mentioned that … there might be a killer after her now. After all these years..."

"Someone with enough information to link her to that little girl you took from the pond. And who knows information that has been sanitized from the FBI files."

Lindenberg kept silent for a moment, his gaze turned inwards as he reviewed the people and the case from that time. Finally he looked up at Hotch, his eyes shining with new determination.

"Where do I sign up?"


	28. A Safe house is safe, isn't it?

**_Chapter 28: A Safe house is safe, isn't it?_**

After several car changes and a very carefully drive through rural Virginia, Reid and Joy arrived at the safe house. The young FBI agent gave his orders to the two other agents already on site and went inside the house looking for Buchanan. He found her standing before the unlit fireplace, staring to the wood hugging herself, the perfect picture of a lost little child.

"You okay?"

"Uhm?" She blinked and looked at him with glazed eyes, struggling to focus on him.

"I've asked if you are okay?"

"Uhm... sorry, I'm suffering from information overload. I'm still a little bit off so my mind is not working 100%."

"Yeah... McGee told me that you haven't been feeling well."

Joy glanced at him sharply, "He didn't tell you why, did he?"

Reid shrugged, "No... he's just said that you weren't well."

Joy sighed, "Good."

"That bad?"

"We don't know yet, Reid. We don't know."

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be done until the results come out." Joy lifted a hand and made a small bun with her hair, tying it with a hair band.

"Sit here, I'm going to check the kitchen. I've been told it has been restocked with good stuff so I'll prepare you some tea."

She grinned as she took the seat offered, wrapping herself in the throw blanket on it as Reid rushed to the kitchen to prepare something for them.

When he came back, he deposited her tea cup on the center table and sat in front of her, sipping his tea as he watched her snoring loudly, deeply wrapped in the blanket dead to the world.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

When she woke up again, night had already fallen over the house and there was a cold cup of tea on the center table before her, along with little sandwiches and some salt crackers. She blinked repeatedly and moved from her position in the sofa, finding a pillow under her head and another blanket over the throw she had wrapped herself in.

Someone had taken the care of removing her shoes from her feet, leaving only her socks.

She smiled lightly at it and moved the blankets aside, getting her now cold cup of tea and going barefoot to the kitchen. There she found Reid preparing a light salad, the air filled with the delicious aroma of something being stirred slowly in a pot.

"What's for dinner?"

"Ah... you're awake." Reid glanced over his shoulder before going back to his cooking. "Ratatouille with fresh greens."

"Nice. How long have I've been asleep?"

"Approximately nine hours. I've decided to let you rest as you looked beat and the emotional findings of the last day might have taken its toll on your already debilitated organism and the extra sleep might be beneficial for you."

Joy grinned, "Only you could get a simple answer and turn it into a news report."

He just grinned and went back to chopping the bell peppers. "It will be ready in five minutes, go freshen up."

"Aye Aye sir."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Dinner was a quite affair, bringing the other up to date on the latest gossip about common acquaintances, both giggling as they commented on Hope's exploits or tiny family gossip.

The other two agents had already had dinner, silently going back to their watchdog duties while Reid and Joy slowly slid into a friendly silence, both thinking about what could be happening with their loved ones back into DC.

"Have you ever considered hypnotherapy?" Reid suggested as he dipped bread in a soft cheese dip. "Practitioners and researchers claim success rates of 90% or higher for professionally conducted hypnotherapy. It has been particularly useful for overcoming phobias and ceasing problematic habitual behaviour like stammering, snoring, smoking, teeth grinding, sleepwalking or nail biting. Distracting the conscious mind causes a dissociation of the conscious and unconscious mind thus allowing the hypnotist to access information deeply hidden in one's subconscious."

"No, Reid."

"Why not?"

"Reid. There is a reason why I've forgotten all that."

"Don't you want to know?" Reid asked, his eyebrows raised, not able to fully understand why she would choose to be kept in the dark about her past.

Joy bit her lower lip, feeling her eyes tearing up as the old familiar panic appeared in her chest. She gulped trying to control the nausea.

"Spencer, is knowing the truth worth losing my sanity? I have a life now. A family. A husband who loves me to bits and … I don't want to lose all that dragging to light something that my mind has worked so hard to keep buried."

Joy slowly destroyed the toast in her hand, turning it in fine dust.

"I won't lie to you. I've tried hypnotherapy before."

"So..."

"When I was a child... Gideon took me to a therapist he knew from the Bureau. They've worked with me for one year and still they were given only glimpses and snapshots of what I've been through."

"What happened then? What made you stop going to their sessions? "

"They've recorded the sessions for later study. They've never let me hear them but Gideon made my mom and my dad listen to them."

"And? What happened later on?"

"They've told me later that I was better off not knowing."

"I see." Both stayed in silence, wiping clean their plates thinking about it. "I could do it, you know?"

"Uhm?"

"I would never hurt you, Joy. But I think it is wise to investigate this and the answers are in there, in your mind. The moment I notice you might be going too deep, I would pull you out. I would never let anything happen to you."

Joy wiped her mouth and stood up, starting to collect the empty plates. "There are too many dark corners in my mind, Spencer. And I'm uncomfortable with giving you free rein to them."


	29. To sleep: perchance to dream

_**Chapter 29: **__**To sleep: perchance to dream: **_

_To be, or not to be: that is the question:  
>Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer<br>The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,  
>Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,<br>And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;  
>No more; and by a sleep to say we end<br>The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks  
>That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation<br>Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;  
>To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;<br>For in that sleep of death what dreams may come  
>When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,<br>Must give us pause: there's the respect  
>That makes calamity of so long life;<em>

_**William Shakespeare**__** - To be, or not to be (**__**from**__** Hamlet 3/1)**_

Later that night they settled down to sleep. Both agents rolled in bed uncomfortable with the danger their colleagues were in and their forced escape away from everyone and everything.

Sleep did not come easily for them.

Finally after much tossing and turning Joy succumbed to sleep and dreamt.

She saw a forest with very high trees which moved with the roaring wind. It was raining, adding to the gloomy atmosphere of the images in her mind. She walked in shaky steps around a tree and hugged a yellow blanket around herself, crying and screaming, trying to be heard over the sound of the pouring rain and thunder.

She was suddenly lifted from the ground, being hugged against a warm chest. It had a nice scent and also protected her from the biting rain. There was more screaming and thunder and the warm arms were suddenly gone.

The dream changed and again she saw trees, but these were different from the first moment of the dream.

This one seemed darker. Colder.

It was also raining, but the rain was so cold that it seemed that tiny bits of ice were hitting the skin and tearing welts on her skin. She walked on the wooden pier over the water - there was a water pond - until she reached the very end of it, looking down to the murky waters below.

The rain slowed down and first she saw her own reflex on the dark waters, huge brown eyes in a sickly looking face, messy hair in curls framing it like a halo. Suddenly the reflection changed, the waters became darker and a monster appeared under the water, looking at her with red eyes.

She tried to take a step back but the monster stretched its claws out of the water and grabbed her arms, dragging her into the water despite her feeble struggles to escape it.

Darkness surrounded her everywhere, the very light was sucked into it and lost forever.

It was so thick that a man could not see his own hand an inch away from his own eyes. Darkness surrounded her, suffocating, penetrating her very skin and bones, chilling her internal organs and trying to claim her.

It wanted her life, her very soul.

She struggled within its grasps, fighting to figure out which way is up, which way safety was, away from the murky waters the monster had dragged her into.

She twisted and turned in nothingness and caught a glimpse of a faint light flickering out of the water and tried to swim to the surface.

She fought for her life and struggled against her instinct to breathe the foul water, finally ending her life.

As she approached safety, she could see the glimmer of light getting stronger. Soon, she would be out of danger.

She swam to the surface but suddenly something caught her foot and started dragging her down under again. She vainly struggled against it, kicking it, fighting to go to surface, to safety, but its claws dug deeper on her skin, making her bleed and refusing to let go.

She turned to see what was dragging her down and saw it again.

The monster with pointed teeth, like claws, smiled a lecherous smile, its leathery skin mixing with the darkness in which it dwelt. Its claws were firmly sunk in her foot and its red eyes were watching her, never blinking. It moved its wings, trying to swim back to the abyss it came from, dragging her with it.

It hissed at her and for some reason, even under the water, she could hear its words.

"You won't escape me, Servant."

Terror finally overtook her and she obeyed her instincts.

She screamed.


	30. Be all my sins remember'd

_**Chapter 30: Be all my sins remember'd.**_

_For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,  
>The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,<br>The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,  
>The insolence of office and the spurns<br>That patient merit of the unworthy takes,  
>When he himself might his quietus make<br>With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,  
>To grunt and sweat under a weary life,<br>But that the dread of something after death,  
>The undiscover'd country from whose bourn<br>No traveller returns, puzzles the will  
>And makes us rather bear those ills we have<br>Than fly to others that we know not of?  
>Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;<br>And thus the native hue of resolution  
>Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,<br>And enterprises of great pith and moment  
>With this regard their currents turn awry,<br>And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!  
>The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons<br>Be all my sins remember'd._

_**William Shakespeare**__** - To be, or not to be (**__**from**__** Hamlet 3/1)**_

Joy's screams resounded in the safe house like thunder, making Reid bolt from his bed in his pjs and run to her bedroom, rightfully expecting her to be under attack by an unsub.

Instead, he found her struggling against her bed sheets, her sweaty pjs glued against her body as she kicked and screamed, trying to fight an attacker only her mind could see.

Reid gulped and slowly approached her, trying to call her out, afraid of startling her out of her dream state but her fighting became even more desperate, her cries hoarser.

One of the other agents also in the protective detail came to the door to check what was happening with his gun in his hand, expecting an attacker inside the house, but when he found the NCIS agent caught in the throes of her nightmare he just exchanged a glance with Reid, who silently dismissed him before closing the door again.

Reid closed his eyes as he heard the whimpering and sobbing from the bed. He slowly went to the bedside and called her out again, trying to wake her up without touching her but her struggles became more frantic, until she hid her face on the pillow and let a mellow wail, her strength disappearing as she went limp and stopped moving.

Reid got really worried and sat on the bed, finally touching her shoulder and finding her clammy and sweaty, a light fever still burning as he moved her hair way from her face. Her eyes were still firmly closed as she whimpered softly.

He couldn't take her distress anymore and lifted her, wrapping his arms around her upper body. Once she felt his warmth, she hugged him tightly, sobbing and crying against his neck, wetting his neck and collar as she muttered something under her breath that he couldn't really hear.

"Joy. It's me, Spencer. You're fine. You're safe now. Calm down, okay? No one is going to hurt. No one." He kept repeating it but her crying wouldn't stop.

Her whispering became more and more desperate, making Reid feel powerless before her distress.

"What are you saying? Joy?"

"He... he's found me."

"Who? Who has found you?"

She hiccupped but didn't answer his question.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Once her crying fit was over, both agents went to the living room as sleep had become something impossible and undesirable for them. She settled in the sofa again, wrapped in blankets silently watching the fire while Reid stumbled in the kitchen trying to make them some tea.

A few minutes later he came back with two cups in his hands and found her there still staring at the fire. She had not moved an inch since he had left her.

"Here take it. It's chamomile."

"Thanks." She muttered without taking her eyes from the fire.

He sat down on the sofa beside her, seeing her tense a little before glancing nervously at him. He smiled at her his best non threatening smile and he was glad when he saw her slowly relaxing again.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"Sometimes it's good to share what's bothering one's mind."

"Sometimes it's not good. Sometimes it's better to keep it buried as deep as possible."

"Nothing stays buried forever, Joy."

She looked up at him with teary eyes and he continued.

"One day it will rear its ugly head and you will snap. It's better to face it here, between friends, than to wait until the pressure becomes so strong that you can't hold it back anymore. And when it bursts... people get hurt. We say hurtful things that we didn't mean to... our secrets are not so secret anymore."

"I'm scared."

"I'm scared too."

"I don't know what I've saw." She admitted in a shaking voice, tears finally falling free after she lost the battle to keep them in check.

"You know exactly what you saw. You just don't want to talk about it."

She looked at him, finding his gentle eyes looking worriedly at her.

"Let's do an exercise, okay? A relaxation exercise." He stood up and took the tea cup from her hands, grabbed a chair and settled in front of her position on the sofa.

"Why don't you lay back and get comfortable?" She reluctantly obeyed him and laid back on the sofa, keeping the blankets wrapped around herself as she settled comfortably. "Good. Now I want you to close your eyes and feel your body. Take deep breaths and slowly inhale and exhale. Feel every intake and outtake as you slowly breathe."

She started to slowly breathe in and out, just as he suggested. Reid took the care of matching his breathing with hers, watching as slowly the lines of distress disappeared from her face.

"Are you relaxed?"

She nodded affirmatively, closing her eyes as she focused only in his voice, going deeper under his spell.

"Now I want you to go to a place where you feel comfortable, where you always feel safe. Imagine this place, see the ground, the ceiling, the walls."

She relaxed deeply, feeling her body dig deeper into the sofa as her exhaustion took over, only faintly paying attention to Reid's voice somewhere to her left.

"Can you describe this place for me?"

She sighed and nodded before answering, "I'm at my family's home in Glasgow at the backyard. There's a small river running behind the property before the fields of grain which stretch as far as the horizon."

"Good. Are you safe in there?"

"Yes." She answered without opening her eyes, deeply under Reid's spell.

"Now, I want you remember that you are there, safe, at your dad's place. All the time. No matter what we find out, you are safe, okay?

"Uhm..."

"Good, now we're going to visit your dream. Can you tell me what you've seen in your dream?"

She frowned as the image changed before her eyes, seeing herself again in the woods under the rain.

"What do you see?"

"Woods."

"Woods? What type of woods?"

"The one with lots of trees."

"Uhm...okay. What else?"


	31. One single string we have

_**Chapter 31:**_** _One single string we have_**

**_We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. - Charles R. Swindoll_**

The dream Joy walked in the dream floor, feeling her naked feet sinking in the soggy soil, the dirt and humus giving a characteristic smell to the air.

She reached a tree and looked around it, finding some activity a few yards ahead.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"_What do you see?"_

"_There are two men in the woods with me."_

"_What are they doing?"_

"_They are arguing. Loudly. But I can't hear them as the noise of the rain covers their words."_

"_Can you get closer to them?"_

"_Not without being seen."_

"_They can't see you, Joy. You're not really there, are you? You are at your father's backyard back in Montana. So get closer to them and hear what they are saying. They can't see you, so it's safe for you to get closer."_

NCIS NCIS NCIS

The dream Joy gets closer to the argument, glad that they don't even hear her soggy steps towards them.

Finally she stands beside them, close enough to hear their words.

"I've done what you asked me. Here's the money. Now where is she?" The man in marine's uniform said, a suitcase at his feet, his dark brown hair plastered to his skull as he stood in front of the other man, who held a gun with the nuzzle pointed to the floor.

"Is it all in there?" The other man asked, motioning with the gun towards the suitcase.

"Yes, fifteen thousand dollars, cash. Now where is my daughter?"

"Pass it over here."

The marine pushed the suitcase with his feet, careful not to enrage the man wielding the gun.

"Ah... the town hero. So good and noble. I really don't know what Laura saw in you. A good little soldier who ended up killing her!"

"I did _**not**_ kill her. She … the doctors did everything they could. They said that it was a tragedy."

"You've forced her to have that baby!"

"She wanted the baby as much as I did! The doctors had promised everything would be alright!"

"You've killed her! And you have to pay for that!"

"I've already paid for that." The man in marine's uniform shouted back, his emotions getting the better of him. "I've lost my wife! Now you want to take away my daughter! Where's she!"

"You won't ever see her again. She's not your daughter. I'll take care of Laura's kid as my own."

"I've already given you the money. Now where is she?"

The blond man grinned and shook his head.

Faint crying echoed in the woods, despite the wind and the rain, making the uniform clad man turn around sharply.

"LORELEI!" He shouted and started running towards the sound, which became more desperate.

"She's not your daughter! She's mine!"

"You're crazy, Trent! She's just a baby!" He turned around, finally spotting a small figure wrapped in a yellow blanket shivering in the rain.

The man rushed to the blanket and wrapped his arms around it, making the desperate crying slow down to heartfelt sobs, finally diminishing to low whimpers.

"_Shshhhh shhhh. Daddy is here. Daddy will protect you."_

The marine knelt with his arms wrapped around the shivering child, his back turned to man holding the gun, trying to console the crying child, all his attention focused in calming her first before he could deal with the crazy man just a few feet behind him.

"You can't do that to her, Trent. If you've ever loved Laura, you have to let us go! She's going to get sick this way and Laura wouldn't want that."

"Laura would want me to take care of our child."

"She's not your child!"

"Laura was pregnant when you stole her from me." The man shouted, his gaze piercing the marine. "That kid is mine!"

"She's not your child. And I've never stolen Laura from you. You've left her! She was sent to a single mother's home after her father kicked her out because you've got her pregnant."

"She is my child!"

"Laura lost the baby, Trent."

"No, you have my child in your arms!"

"_It was a boy, Trent!"_

Trent shook his head, denying the truth right before his eyes. Dylan stood up, his gaze firm in Trent's face as he hugged the small whimpering child in his arms, tightly wrapped in a yellow baby blanket.

"Laura lost the baby, Trent. A beautiful tiny boy. There was nothing the doctors could have done then to save your kid... the same way that there wasn't anything they could have done to save Laura's life when Lorelei was born. It was a tragedy, one that we couldn't have been avoided regardless of how much we fought against it.

Now let's not compound on these mistakes. Let me go with Lorelei, I'll never breathe a word of what has happened here to anyone. Keep the money, you need it more than me. But let me look after Laura's daughter. Let me honor Laura's wishes. I've promised I wouldn't give up living on her, that I would keep living after she had left only for the sake of our child. Don't make me a liar to Laura, Trent."

Trent's resolve wavered for a few minutes, his gaze not leaving Dylan's face for a while before he finally lowered his gun, his blond hair glued to the sides of his head. Finally he waved with his chin, letting the man walk away.

Dylan didn't have to be told twice. He kept his eyes on the man and the gun in his shaking hand before he started taking backward steps, putting more and more distance between himself and the crazy man. Finally, he turned around and started running, his feet dipping on the soggy ground as he tried to get away firmly holding the child in his arms.

He put a good distance before Trent changed his mind and started running after him, screaming like the mad man he was, ordering Dylan to put his child down. Dylan tried to run faster, but it was dark and the ground was slippery, making his steps dangerous with the precious cargo he held in his arms.

Finally Trent got tired of the game, raised his arm, aimed the gun and waited until he got a clear shot.

When it happened, he pulled the trigger.


	32. Pain

_**Chapter 33: **__**Pain**_

_**Friendship needs no words - it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness. - Dag Hammarskjold **_

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Joy shouted, still deeply under trance, making her fight the blankets and almost falling from the sofa.

Reid tried to hold her arms down but she still fought him, eager to get away from the nightmarish visions which were plaguing her.

"Joy, you're safe, get out of there. Get out. Get back to your father's backyard, okay? Remember the fields, look for the fields. Remember the river? Dip your feet in the river. Can you feel it? Get out of the woods. GET OUT!"

She was still struggling against his hands that he, desperately trying to find a way to avoid her getting hurt, laid beside her in the sofa and gathered her in his arms and held her firmly, trying to stop her arms of flaying around.

"Shuhhhhh calm down." She whimpered and laid tense in his arms. "Good girl, now you're safe. Nobody will harm you." He glued his lips against her sweaty forehead, feeling his own emotional control lightly slipping away. "Now visualize your home in Glasgow. Can you see it?"

She whimpered and moaned for a while. Finally she quieted down and nodded her head lightly, slowly relaxing in his arms as he guided through the vision. "Good, now visualize the fields, the trees in the backyard. You once told me that there's a huge wooden table in the back, where the whole family used to sit for supper. Can you see that?"

She nodded again.

"Good. I want you to take a seat. There's a BAU Casefile on the table and a jar with water along with a glass. I want you to pour yourself some water and slowly sip it, trying to calm down. Can you do that for me?"

She nodded, slowly becoming boneless in his arms as her dream self sat down and drank some water, her heartbeat slowly going down as her distress levels diminished.

"You better now?"

"Uhm hum."

"Good." Reid closed his eyes, feeling his throat clenching and finally feeling the hammer of knowing hitting his forehead, clarifying the reason why Gideon and her therapist decided to keep that hidden from her.

Telling an already abused and traumatized child that their sole parent had died trying to keep her safe would have forever thrown her into a deep well of self loathing. At that time, they were trying to figure out a way to make her speak as well as who was the man responsible for her abuse.

If the same man who had branded her, beaten her and traumatized her to the point of inducing muteness was the same man who killed her father in front of her... A child's mind couldn't cope with such trauma.

That's why Gideon kept the truth away from her. He must have suggested the therapist to find a way to block the memory in order to allow her to function in society.

At least he had informed her parents, preparing them to what they might have to face if those memories ever came up to the surface.

"Have you finished your water?"

She nodded against his chest, breathing slowly in and out, as he tightened his arms around her.

"There's a BAU casefile on the table. It's an open investigation about a murder and kidnapping that happened back in 1980's. I want you to look through it, not as a victim, but as an _investigator_. Read the witness reports, study the crime scene pictures. Work the case, examine the evidence at hand and, once you have a profile on the unsub, I want you to leave your parent's place and come back to the present, here and now, and we can work the case together, okay? I'll be here, waiting for you. When you have a draft of a profile you will open your eyes and we will work together on this."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Reid stayed in silence, holding her in his arms as she sometimes fidgeted, muttering here and there about crime scenes and witnesses reports. He waited as she studied her own case in a detached way, her mind picking it apart and putting a clear profile together.

Finally, he felt a difference in the body lying in his arms, as her breathing changed patterns and she lightly tensed as she felt his arms around her torso, both wrapped under the blankets.

He didn't move a muscle as he felt her moving in his arms, finally lifting her head from its previous position by his neck, finding his gaze with clear brown eyes. She blinked repeatedly as she supported her hands on each side of his head, gazing down at him with a question mark in her face.

"Hi," he said, seeing her eyes studying his face.

"What happened here?"

"What do you remember?"

"Don't answer a question with another question."

"I'm just trying to gauge how much trouble I'm in."

She smiled a little, before frowning at the flashes of memory coming to her mind.

"We were working a case, I think."

"What do you remember of the case?" _Good_.

She blinked owlish at him, her eyes irritated due to the countless tears she had shed during her brief period under hypnosis. Her sinuses were clogged and a light headache was bothering her.

"But it doesn't make any sense, why would we be working a case together right now… and how did we get this way?" Her eyes went down to their intimate position in the sofa, his arms still around her shoulders.

"Ah... before the case," He gave her a small smile and let her go, gingerly sitting down in the sofa, being imitated by her, who sat down slower as if she was trying to test her balance. "What exactly do you remember?"

"I..." She became mute and her eyes glassy, breathing deeply as nausea assaulted her at the same time her breathing became elaborated.

Reid noticed the obvious signs of distress and hugged her, immediately forcing her to put her head between her blankets covered legs. "Deep breaths, Joy. Don't faint. Deep breaths."

She kept hyperventilating for almost a minute but once the darkness around the edges of her eyes retreated and her shivering abated, Reid slowly helped her to sit up on the sofa again, holding her tightly in a side hug in which she bonelessly supported her head on his shoulder.

"I had a nightmare." She whispered, closing her eyes as her respiration kept going in an acelerated rate, as if she had run in a marathon.

"Yes, you did." He said in a very gentle tone, afraid of scaring her even more.

"A bad one. A really bad one."

"Yes."

"What else's happened?"

"What do you remember of the casefile?" Reid asked against her hair, feeling her breathing against his collar.

"Ah... there was a murder and a kidnapping."

"Can you walk me through the case?"

"Why do you want me to?" She lifted her head from his shoulder, finding him looking at her guiltily.

"Ah... I've used one of our interview techniques on you. You had a very bad nightmare after we spoke about hypnotherapy and how the answers were there, in your mind... You were pretty shaken after your nightmare and I've convinced you to relive it."

She stared at him for a while, and he gulped when her eyes narrowed with anger and became little slits.

"You've just hypnotized me." She said between gritted teeth, trying to hold back her anger at what she considered an invasion of her privacy.

"Ah... I wasn't planning to. It was just supposed to be a visualization exercise. I didn't mean to. I've just wanted to dip a little in your subconscious but I think the memory had been very close to the surface because when... I've simply suggested you to go back you went all the way in."

"Damnit, Reid. You've hypnotized me without my consent." Joy said without intonation in her voice, her gaze fixed in his.

"Joy, just listen okay?"

Reid put some space between them, taking her hands in his, squeezing them lightly, "I was right, okay? The answers are there, in your mind, but …"

"Have you ever considered the possibility that I didn't want to know what happened?" She said angrily, her eyes never leaving his face.

"I don't think that's true. I think that you are afraid to know. And you were right to be, because..."

"Reid... please." She shook her head, unwilling to listen to him but if there was one thing that Reid was, ah, it was insistent.

"Gideon was right, Joy. You weren't ready to know then. But now you're stronger than when you were a kid, so we could access them..."

"What if I'm not ready now?"

"I think you are. Joy, you've mentioned that we were both working on a casefile. What do you remember of it?"

She shook her head, trying to put her confused memories together.

"Ah... There was a murder..."

"Do you remember who was the victim?"

"It was..." Joy frowned and forced herself to remember, Reid softly squeezing her hand trying to offer support. "A marine, his name was Dylan..." She looked up, looking horrified at Reid. "Oh God, it was..."

"Don't think about NCIS case or the evidence you guys uncovered. I want you to focus on the casefile you saw on your dream. The images you saw in it. Who was the victim?"

"A marine called Dylan... I don't remember his last name in the papers."

"Good. Now, who was the unsub?"

"His name was Trent."

"What did he do?"

She stayed mute, making Reid poke her in her arm for an answer.

"Come on, work the evidence with me. What was Dylan's connection to Trent?"

"He... Dylan's got married to Trent's former girlfriend. Her name was... Laura. Trent had gotten Laura pregnant and left her. Laura lost the child, a boy, and started a new life by Dylan's side. She got pregnant again and had a girl but..."

Joy's gaze became glassy, her only connection to the world was Reid's hand firmly holding hers in his own.

"What happened then?"

"She died on her child's birth."

"What can you tell me about the murder? Why did Trent kill Dylan?"

"He... was presenting clear signs of dissociative paranoia. He believed that Dylan had stolen Laura from him - not that he had abandoned her - and that the child that Laura had given birth to was his, not Dylan's."

"What did he do then?"

"He kidnapped the child and … held her for ransom. Dylan went to meet him in the agreed place and paid for her release, but …" Joy started crying silently, feeling her strength seeping away as she worked to finish the narrative. "Trent was too deep in his neurosis to accept a logical explanation for things so... he killed Trent, keeping the child and the money."

She looked at Reid with tear filled eyes feeling emotionally exhausted.

"Very good. Now I just have one question for you. What was the name of the child?"

She shook her head, feeling that she was at her last tether of her strength. "I can't remember..."

"Joy, what was the child's name?" Reid held her hand, fighting her weak attempts to free herself from his grasp.

Joy whimpered, looking into Reid's eyes before answering in a sob. "Lo...Lo... Lorelei."

Unable to hold back the unleashed emotion, she sobbed brokenheartedly, faintly feeling his arms being wrapped around her shoulders, letting her distress be washed away as catharsis finally happened and she cried for that little girl who lost everything, the father who fought until the end for his child, a family unity destroyed by the madness of a man blinded by pain.


	33. Time takes its toll on us

**_Chapter 33: Time takes its toll on us_**

**_Intimacy, as I am using it, is sharing my reality with you. Keith Miller _**

Only the flickering light of the fire illuminated the living room. Both agents stayed silently on the sofa, just silently supporting each other as the despair and pain was released in tears. Both were afraid to move and break the simple intimacy of laying in each other arms on the sofa, a colorful throw over them, hearing the crackling of the fire, too lazy to move from where they were.

"Do you miss him?" Reid murmured with his eyes closed.

"Who?"

"Gideon."

"Sometimes."

"Me too. I wish he was here now. He would know what to say to you to ease the pain."

"You don't have to say nothing, Spencer. Just do what you're doing."

"What am I doing?"

"Being here. Silently. It's enough."

"Thanks, I guess." Reid sighed, thinking about their common mentor. "I miss our talks. His mentoring. Funny because for a long time I thought that they've only allowed me in the team because Gideon was there to act as a buffer for me."

"You have a place in the team, Reid. You're a great agent."

Reid chuckled, glad that the air in the room changed as they went into familiar territory. "I know that now. I wasn't so sure back then."

"Gideon was not only a mentor. He was pretty much like a father for both of us."

"You've known him for a longer time than me."

"He saved my life when I was just a little girl, Spencer. After that all I've ever studied, learnt or fought for was towards the goal of working at the BAU with him."

"Do you miss it? Working with us? The FBI?"

Joy stayed silent, giving it careful thought before answering. "For a while... I really believed that my life after the BAU was over. But I slowly carved my way in NCIS ranks and … I like it there. It might not have the same frenetic rhythm we had at the BAU but … what we do is equally important."

"I'm glad you are happy there."

They stayed in friendly silence for a while, hearing here and there the sounds of the night inhabitants in the garden and the wind softly blowing against the trees surrounding the house.

"Joy?"

"Uhm?"

"Are you happy?"

She lifted her head from his chest, glancing down at him as he turned his face to study her. "Is this a loaded question?"

Reid smiled self consciously, "No. Are you happy with him?"

"You are talking about McGee." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah." Reid admitted shyly.

She laid again her head on his chest, "There's a moment in someone's life that things simply happen, Spencer. And they fit and they are right and are not perfect, as perfection is an illusion."

"It was a simple yes or no question."

Joy sighed deeply, closing her eyes. "Yes, I'm happy with him."

"That's good enough for me."

The night was almost to an end so they decided to go to their own bedrooms to at least grab a few hours of rest. Both sluggishly left the sofa, grabbing the blankets to bring them back to the bedrooms. They slowly walked down the corridor, watching the shadows intertwine with the feeble light coming out of the open doors and feeling a strange atmosphere in the air, filled with an intimacy that had been long gone between them.

Finally they stopped before her door, looking uncertain at each other as they were unsure of what was really going on.

"Here you go. Your bedroom."

"Yeah. Thanks, Spencer. For everything."

"You're welcome. My pleasure." He said, studying her face, seeing the maturity which had settled on her once youthful face, the dark eyes regarding him with the same concern of before.

She studied him back, finding that the years had been graceful to him, his once long hair was cut in a more acceptable - and masculine - way, but it had still retained its curls which always reminded her of soft fur of a dog, begging to be petted.

She saw an old fire in his gaze, a feeling slowly being revealed in there and she didn't step back when he leaned down and gently lifted one of his hands, touching her chin and aligned her lips with his descending ones.

His soft cold lips touched hers lightly, before he took a deep breath and opened his mouth, deepening the kiss at the same time his arms wrapped around her waist, bringing her closer to his chest.


	34. OH CRAP

**_A/n: ah ye of little faith! All will be duly explained without the need of bodily harm. Stay tuned for the next developments._**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Chapter 34: OH CRAP!<em>**

**_Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold. Zelda Fitzgerald _**

Regardless of what people today may say, sex and love rarely can be successfully disassociated. Those who restlessly pursue one night stands are usually maimed psychologically and neurologically because the act of sex in itself releases powerful chemicals in the brain to ensure the psychological attachment between the two individuals involved.

If the mechanical act occurs but no psychological attachment happens, some kind of loss will undoubtedly happen in both parties involved.

Attraction might be hormonal but affection, ahh, that's the tricky one that usually breaks the legs of us poor mortals.

That's also one of the reasons why you can't say that you are totally over an old lover after a recent breakup: once you were in a loving committed relationship and it ends, regardless of the reason why you grew apart, you will have a hard time falling out of love as somewhere your brain had been programmed to enjoy that person's company.

That's why break ups suck in general. Big time.

Sometimes, you will never be able to completely leave him/her behind. You might learn how to forgive... but forgetting is another matter entirely different. The memory will forever be there, a hidden part of you, ready to haunt you whenever your barriers are weakened and your unconscious reigning free.

So when Joy and Spencer kissed, it was like the years had suddenly melted away and they were again young, silly and in love, sneaking behind the Quantico building for a make out session hidden from the ever present eye of their supervisors, or the all-knowing eyes of Gideon. They momentarily forgot how they hurt each other, shouted at each other and how, in the end, their immaturity led them apart.

Joy sighed as felt him molding her closer to his body, soft lips moving with a familiarity that brought shivers down to her spine, her arms slowly going up to wrap around his neck.

He let go of her lips and glided to deposit soft kisses on her neck, his laborious breathing resounding in the silence as he bit her neck, bringing a moan out of her.

"Ah Timothy..." Joy gasped and arched her torso, feeling a familiar fire burning in her chest. She frowned when he stopped his ministrations and lifted his head.

"Joy?" Spencer asked, looking at her with a light hurt in his eyes.

"Spencer? Ah God..." Horrified, she jumped out of his arms and took a step back, gluing her back to the door, staring at him with huge eyes at the enormity of the mistake both had just committed.

"Ah... crap … I'm sorry. I'm..." Reid blushed and stared at her mortified of what had transpired between them, starting a litany of half whispered apologies.

Joy closed her eyes, feeling her body still singing thanks to his ministrations and self loathing inundated her mind, also aware that the same loathing was filling his mind.

"Stop, Spencer!" She hissed, trying to stop his string of apologies.

He kept apologizing, his gaze firmly on the floor as he hugged himself tightly, his arms wrapped around his middle, looking like a little boy lost and bringing a new wave of guilt to her heart.

"Don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness." Joy said, finally getting his attention.

Both stayed in silence, looking at the floor, unsure of what they should say.

"I've thought it was the other way around. You have to apologize to show strength."

"Sometimes it's true. But not here. Not now."

"I see." He lowered his chin to his chest, staring to the floor. "I was envious, you know. Of _him_. Going to your wedding was... very hard to me."

Joy's heart clenched at his heartfelt confession, aware of how fragile he was to express his longing even after so many years.

"I know. But you have to understand that I'm married now, Spencer. And I love my husband. I love him very much."

She felt her eyes filling with tears... "And I still kind of love you. Deep down I still have feelings for you. But our time is long gone. We were good together and at the same time so wrong for each other. And you deserve someone who will love you unconditionally, with no reservations, just the way you are."

She allowed herself some tears, seeing him looking at her with that adorable puppy look that he had, but she had to finish this. There should be no doubt in his mind that whatever they've had was dead and buried.

"But that person isn't me. It has never been me."

"You didn't know that back then."

"We were children desperate for affection. And for a little while we found it in each others' arms. But we were never meant to be."

"What I've felt was real. Don't try to tell me that what I've felt wasn't real."

"We were children, Spencer. It was bound to end badly if we continued together."

"You couldn't know that."

"Gideon knew."

"What?" That revelation made him look at her surprised at her declaration.

He took a step back and felt a shiver as he saw her guilty expression, looking at him in tears.

"I... left you because Gideon told me to."

He frowned at that information. "What are you talking about?"

"He said... that you needed to grow up in your own time and that I was... holding you back."

"He told you... he told you to leave me?" Reid's voice was almost a whisper at the last words, refusing to believe what she was telling her.

"He said... we were too similar to be good to each other. That the only reason I … accepted you was because I considered you harmless. And that wasn't fair to you."

"That is... a lie. He was wrong and …"

"_He was right,_ Spencer. He knew me. He knew my past and he accused me of using you. It wasn't fair to you and it was extremely wrong on my part. The only reason why I sought you out then... was because you couldn't... wouldn't _physically_ hurt me. Even if you tried, I could overpower you. And Gideon saw that and told me that I was … wrong of using you that way. You had your own demons to vanquish and I had no right of burdening you with mine."

Spencer took a step back, showing all his astonishment and hurt in his eyes.

"I considered his words for a long time and I realized that... He was right. So I lied and left because I didn't want to be there when you met someone … better than me."

"Joy."

He took a step towards her, but she stopped him with a hand up.

"Gideon knew it all along. And he knew me. So I left."

"Joy..."

"No, Spencer. Good night."

Reid looked at her with sadness, burdened with whatif's and a past shared.

"Good night."

She threw a saddened look towards him before turning to the door, opening and going inside, softly closing it after herself.


	35. What did Gideon do?

_**Chapter 35: What did Gideon do?**_

_**"One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though ... betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope." Nai Steven Deitz**_

While Joy cried herself to sleep Reid went to his room and walked around like a caged lion in it, rolling the words of the last few hours in his own head.

His eidetic memory was a mixed blessing: it was helpful when studying a case but when his emotions were involved, what a mess.

He finally got tired of walking and sat down on his bed, kicked off his shoes and laid down fully clothed over the duvet. Still sleep eluded him, as his gut churned with the knowledge that what they had had been cut short thanks to Gideon's interference.

But Joy's words were clashing with something in the back of his mind, as his eidetic memory went over what she had recalled from her childhood and their conversation before her terrible nightmare, and he was aware that there was something there, just beyond his grasp.

He could feel it. He closed his eyes and left his mind alone processing the information, as he felt his body slowly relaxing against the blankets.

_"Gideon took me to a therapist he knew from the Bureau."_

_"Gideon knew."_

_"They've recorded the sessions for later study."_

_"Gideon knew."_

_They've never let me hear them but Gideon made my mom and my dad listen to them."_

_"Gideon knew."_

_"They've told me later that I was better off not knowing."_

_"Gideon knew."_

_"They've worked with me for one year…"_

_"Gideon knew."_

_"Gideon was not only a mentor. He was pretty much like a father for both of us."_

_"Gideon knew."_

_"He saved my life when I was just a little girl…"_

_"Gideon knew."_

_"I... left you because Gideon told me to."_

_"Gideon knew it all along. And he knew me."_

_"Gideon knew."_

GIDEONKNEW GIDEONKNEW GIDEONKNEW GIDEONKNEW GIDEONKNEW GIDEONKNEW GIDEONKNEW

"SHIT!" Reid jumped awake from the bed, breathing heavily as his mind shot into overdrive. His heart was jumping in his chest, and when he looked to the window he saw the light filtering through the curtains.

It was already morning.

"He knew." Reid murmured, his gaze on the branch of a tree slowly curving on the wind blowing outside. "He knew all along. He knew what had happened to her and did nothing." He stopped, reconsidering it. "Actually, he did something. He buried it as deeply as possible in her subconscious, praying that it would never see the light of the day again."

He jumped off the bed and went barefoot out of the room, his mismatched socks on his feet muffling any sound. He slowly made his way towards Joy's room and thought twice before knocking on the door. When he received no answer, he gently turned the knob and entered the room.

He stopped by her bed and gulped as he saw her wrapped in her duvet, her face glistening with dried tear tracks on her cheeks.

"He used both of us, didn't he?" He murmured to the sleeping woman.

He got no response, so he silently left the room and went back to the living room, eager for a large dose of coffee.

He had some digging to do.

NICS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Reid was again stuck with only his thoughts. He usually was quite comfortable to dwell with them, but after the revelations of the previous evening - Joy's nightmares, her witnessing her father's murder and Gideon's betrayal both of him and her - his own mind was the last place he would like to stay alone.

So after making himself a gigantic mug of coffee he mindlessly walked to the bookcase some good soul had decided to set up in a room of the safe house and started studying the titles, looking for one that might keep his attention long enough to dim the restless questions which were hammering his forehead.

Why did Gideon interfere in their relationship?

Why did Gideon on purpose choose to hide Joy's past from her?

The question to the first question was simple, but not easy to accept. They had been extremely young, vulnerable and had found in each other solace for a very short time.

Joy had just graduated from her M.A. in the UK and had come directly to finish training in Quantico.

He was Gideon's research assistant, visiting the Bureau whenever he wasn't pursuing this or that PhD. His genius status granted free access to the papers he needed for his research projects, and it was through Gideon that both youngsters met for the first time in the cafeteria of Quantico.

She was older than him but he soon found out that didn't necessarily mean she was more experienced than himself. She had been all his firsts: first lover, first female friend, first girlfriend... The man in him enjoyed the attention while the teenager still there had been charmed to find someone who, for some reason, was almost as inexperienced as him.

When he asked her why, she showed him her scarred back. She later told him he was the second male who had ever been given the dubious honor of seeing - and why not - touching her scars.

_"Why?"_

_"The first one left our bed one morning and got shot half an hour later when he walked in on a robbery. There was no one since."_

He didn't dare to ask any other question after that.

Reid sat down on the sofa with the book over his lap and stared at the unlit fireplace, trying to figure out the answer for the second question.

"Why did Gideon choose to hide her past from her?" Reid muttered out loud, but no answer came from the empty room. He looked up and saw one of the other agents walking outside in the garden, close to the waterline.

Unable to come up with an answer which undoubtedly would reveal a deep betrayal, Reid called one of his favorite persons in the whole world, after checking that it was an acceptable time to ring someone at Quantico.

"Garcia, Oracle of all knowledge, how may I serve you, young Jedi?"

"Hey, I need you to check something for me."

"Tell me, oh so gracious one."

"I need you to look for hypnotherapy sessions requested by Gideon in his first few months working with Buchanan."

"Researching Buchanan therapy files from 1999 onwards..."

"No, Garcia, I need the files previous to that."

"Oh," Garcia's hands froze over her keyboard, "what exactly do you want me to look for?"

"I need the files from 1989 onwards from when Gideon first met Joy."

"These are juvie sealed records. Are we even allowed to look at them?"

"Has that ever stopped you before?"

"No but why do you need them?"

"I have a theory but I need proof."

He could hear the insane typing of the redhead on her keyboard, providing a background to her muttering on the phone. After a while, he heard Garcia humming puzzled on the line.

"This is interesting."

"What did you find?"

"Gideon requested a Federal shrink specialized in PSTD – a Dr. Charlene White - to be assigned to Joy's treatment after the case they met for the first time back in 1989 but… I can find the logs of the sessions but there is nothing else."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there are no files. No recorded sessions, no transcripts, no reports, no nothing. It's as if the doctor went there and took no notes of her sessions or, if she did…"

"The reports were never filed in the FBI system." Reid muttered, seeing the pieces falling together right before his eyes.

"But why Gideon would do that?"

Reid rested back on the sofa, rubbing a hand over his eyes tiredly. "Gideon didn't do it. At least not without help."

"But who could bury these files in such way that yours truly here can't find them." Garcia's voice was puzzled, seeing that her magic for once couldn't retrieve any answers from her babies.

Reid opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, sighing loudly at the phone. "Maggie and Joseph Buchanan could. Gideon didn't have the necessary clearance to order the files sanitized but Maggie Buchanan through the proper channels could have the entire file erased by her request."

Garcia was shocked into silence for a moment, gulping as she stared at her plasma screens all displaying info at a dizzying speed. "Uh… but why would they do it? Wouldn't they want Joy to know about her past?"

Reid closed his eyes and saw clearly Joy's trashing and screaming as she remembered the events that lead to her father's death. An adult Joy reacted as if her own heart was being ripped from her heart without anesthesia. A younger Joy would probably have reacted in a much worse way.

It's a miracle she hadn't become catatonic or worst.

"Probably because there are too many dark corners in her mind, Garcia, and people shouldn't have free access to them." Reid repeated Joy's words to Garcia, receiving just a loud _uhmpf_ from the tech's side.

"Take care, baby G-man, I'll hold the fort for you here."

"Thanks Garcia."

They disconnected and Reid put the phone on the center table, grabbing the calculus book again and mindlessly going through its pages. His eyes weren't even moving over the words as his mind went through the information he had just received and cross referenced it with what he already knew of the Buchanan family.

If there was a bunch of people who were good of keeping secrets, it was the Buchanans. They were downright paranoid in protecting their own and there was nothing they wouldn't do for another member of the family.

If Maggie and Joseph have decided that digging deeper in Joy's subconscious would become dangerous to their child, they wouldn't think twice about brushing it all under a rug in Joy's consciousness and pray that that particular skeleton in the closet would never see daylight again.

But in order to do that, they must have had help. And that help must have come from Gideon.

Gideon had offered the services of a Bureau trained child psychologist after Joy's and Hope's kidnapping. He did the follow-up interviews and he must have known, he must have been aware of what was lurking in that little girl's mind.

He knew how damaging that information could be so he chose to bury it as deeply as possible.

Sometimes he really wished a chance of having a talk to Gideon in order to clarify what the older man had been thinking.

But Gideon wasn't there, was he? So he had to clean up after the mess and emotional turmoil Gideon had left in his wake.

"Oh crap." Reid closed his eyes, aware of a migraine coming full force behind his eyes.


	36. Visitors

**_Chapter 36: Visitors_**

The safe house was located in a small rural property beside a lake in rural Virginia, accessible only through a single road. The owner of the shop located at the beginning of the access road was one of their informers, so if anyone tried to pass through him he would give an alert by radio to the people up in the hill.

Reid was reading the book on his lap when the glass door towards the garden opened and one of protective detail agents came in.

"Where is she?"

"Asleep, why?"

"We've got a radio. There's a black utilitarian coming up the road. ETA five minutes."

Reid jumped from the sofa, dropping the book on the floor and ran to Joy's bedroom. He entered it without knocking and found Joy still asleep under the blankets, her pale face buried in the pillows.

"Joy, wake up."

"What?" She croaked barely awake blinking repeatedly as her eyes tried to adjust to the faint light coming through the shut curtains.

"Someone is coming. We gotta move."

She immediately threw the blankets aside, sitting on the bed and looking for her shoes, at the same time she reached for her gun under her pillow.

"How many?"

"We don't know. All we know it's a black SUV. Come!"

He threw her a rain coat which she put over her pjs and both left the bedroom, running towards the backyard door. Reid drew his weapon and checked the area, before darting with her on his six towards the tree line where they had already prepared an escape route just in case everything went south.

Once they reached the secure point they had prepared they laid in wait for their target. After a few tense minutes, a black SUV slowly made the curve towards the porch of the house.

The doors opened and a light haired man in a black coat down to his knees left the passenger seat, his back towards the two agents hiding in the woods. Someone also left the car on the driver's side, as they heard the sound of the door being closed with a dull thud.

They waited until the driver came out from behind the car, approaching the light haired man and indicating the door of the house. They silently observed as one of their security detail came out to speak to the driver that they couldn't see well from where they were hiding.

Joy frowned as the light haired man rolled on the balls of his feet, his hands going deep into his coat pockets, feeling a sense of familiarity hit her before he turned his head and she finally could see his face.

"That's Timothy." She said grabbing Reid's arm and squeezing it without looking away from her husband's face.

"I was under the impression that they had agreed that we would stay underground for a while. Why did they come over now? Have they closed the case?"

The driver took a step ahead and Reid could finally recognize Morgan in his black jacket and sunglasses.

Both agents along with the guy from the security detail waved their hands towards them, indicating that it was safe for them to come back to the house.

They left their hiding place in the woods, slowly walking towards the two agents by the car. Timothy smiled lightly, his eyes hungrily checking her up and down after their forced separation so shortly after their honeymoon.

Morgan nodded to Reid, noticing his clothing state and the gun in his hand. "Expecting trouble?"

"We weren't aware if you were friend or foe."

McGee took a step towards her, which prompted her to start running until she was in his arms, hugging him tightly as they eagerly checked each other for any sign of distress.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. You?"

"I've been better. Why are you here? I've thought we were supposed to stay incommunicado until the end of the investigation."

McGee turned around and glanced at Morgan, who looked gravely at the two NCIS agents.

"Something came up. Let's talk inside."


	37. Kid, what have you done?

_**Chapter 37: Kid, what have you done?**_

Both NCIS and FBI agents went inside the house and Reid promptly rushed to the kitchen to prepare more coffee for the newcomers.

"Are you feeling better?" McGee asked as he urged Joy to sit beside him on the sofa, Morgan on the opposite one with a laptop backpack in his hand.

He rubbed his fingers over her hands, not liking that they were lightly shaking underneath his touch.

"I haven't puked today if that's what you're asking. But then I've just woken up, so maybe that doesn't count."

"It's almost two pm." Morgan commented, taking the laptop and opening it on the coffee table.

"I've had a rough night." Joy muttered, throwing a glance at Reid who had brought four huge mugs of coffee and sorted them out for the agents.

Reid grimaced a little at her and grabbed his own coffee, blowing at it before taking a sip.

The look exchanged between them didn't go unnoticed by Morgan and McGee, the last looking at Reid and then at Joy with a cunning expression on his face before wiping any sign of his thoughts from his eyes.

Morgan just grimaced, imagining the worst.

_Oh crap, kid. What have you done?_

Morgan booted the laptop and looked up for some files in it.

"We were able to track down the last living family member from Sergeant Knox. His older sister, Dora, was able to supply plenty of information of Knox's situation just before his death." McGee said, waiting until Morgan turned the laptop to show some digitalized pictures of the ones he had collected back in Virginia.

"His wife's name was Laura, she was an employee from his father's bed and breakfast. They had been married for four years before she got pregnant and gave birth to a girl. Her name was..."

"Lorelei." Joy muttered, touching the screen where her biological father and mother were smiling back at her.

Morgan and McGee looked at each other confused.

Morgan said, "How did you know that? I was under the impression you didn't remember your past."

"We've got that info only yesterday." McGee was looking at his wife's face, watching the display of emotions in there.

Reid fidgeted on his seat, feeling extremely uncomfortable with what he was going to reveal. He lifted a hand, as little student asking for permission to speak.

"If I may..."

"Shut up, Reid." Joy said rudely, hugging herself in a protective way and keeping her eyes on the pictures on the computer screen.

Both Morgan and Reid frowned at the bad air between the two agents, who refused to look at each other.

"What's going on here?" Morgan asked, staring at Reid who had his head bowed almost to his chest and was staring into his coffee, the picture perfect for a chagrined little boy.

Joy looked up and glanced at Reid, not hiding her hurt in her voice when she explained, "I didn't remember... Last night... we..." She sighed loudly, glancing at McGee as she bit her lower lip trying to find words to explain. "I had a nightmare and later on, in order to access it, Reid hypnotized me. We were able to access the memories … at least part of them."

"He did what?" Morgan almost jumped from the sofa.

"It was just -" Reid tried to justify himself, just to be interrupted by Joy.

"You've hypnotized me without my consent, Reid. I had already told you that I didn't want to remember, but you went ahead. My mind is not a house where the door is always open and anyone is invited in."

"I've never said that." Reid said, staring at her hurt.

"No, but still you went against my wishes. I didn't want to remember... not like that, not right now." Joy muttered, looking down at her hands on her lap, finally noticing that she was digging her nails into her thighs.

"If not now, when then?" Reid again couldn't understand why someone would prefer to stay in the dark about the past.

"I don't know. Preferably when there isn't someone killing people randomly and planning my death. What about then?"

Joy stood up and left the three men in an uncomfortable silence in the living room going to the kitchen. Reid gulped and looked at McGee who was glaring at him with a frown, certainly not happy with what Joy had considered, rightly so, an invasion of her privacy.

"I meant no harm." Reid said to McGee, who kept silent as he threw a disappointed glare at his direction before following his wife to the kitchen, where they could hear her attacking some poor defenseless utensil at random.

McGee found Joy in the kitchen, resting both hands on the table, taking deep breaths as she shivered lightly, either from cold or due to nausea he couldn't tell.

"You okay?"

"I saw everything."

"Joy?"

"I … I was there, Tim. That guy, Trent, he had kidnapped me and he had asked ransom from my... my... father and... after he had the money he refused to let me go. He played my father, taunting and accusing him of killing my mom but … he explained that she had died at my birth and that there was nothing that the doctors could have done. Nothing. He..."

She started sobbing, feeling her control slipping away as the memories came back full force and the pain, anger and despair made themselves known.

"He gave my father the chance of running... and when he had a clean shot, he fired. At us. At him. He died with me in his arms."

She hugged herself which prompted McGee to rush to her side, cradling her face onto his neck as she purged her pain with a never-ending fountain of tears.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Morgan shot a glare at Reid, who shrugged and urged him to bring him up to speed with the facts, beside the findings of Joy's living relatives, the extremely short suspect list in her father's case which ended in a dead end of a pine casket in a cemetery in Chicago and the extraordinary findings that all victims of the flogging killings had been in witness protection, connected to a Cult bust back in 1987.

"Any chance of Joy being somehow connected to that cult?" Reid asked.

"Apparently she was one of the kids rescued from the compound. But there are no mentions of her on any of the official files."

"How is that even possible? Isn't that standard procedure to list all people on site of a bust?"

"She was a key witness but the task force leader decided to keep her existence and whereabouts a secret, just in case some kind of payback was sought later on. Apparently, he was right in doing that."

"Twenty years later, someone is cleaning house." Reid muttered as he saw the twenty year old pictures of their victims at the time of the raid.

"And for some reason they are after her."

"How did you find out that her existence was kept out of the files on purpose?"

Morgan smiled, "The SAC of that time is still alive and well. Hotch and Rossi went down to talk to him and he has been a fountain of information since then."

Both McGee and Joy came out of the kitchen, Joy looking a little paler than before, her eyes red from all the crying she must have done in the kitchen.

"Joy's not feeling very well so I'm taking her to rest." McGee said, his arm over her shoulder.

"Okay, we'll hang around here this afternoon. We'll report back only tomorrow morning anyway." Morgan said, noticing the looks Reid was throwing at the McGee couple.

Joy threw a sad look at Reid, before hugging McGee and following him down the corridor towards her bedroom.

Once the McGees left, Morgan glared at Reid, who had sat down on the sofa with a pout and a thick calculus book on his lap, his eyes flickering over it but Morgan knew he wasn't reading it.

"Kid, what have you done?"

"Nothing really. She's just mad because I've ignored her wishes," Reid said pouting.

Morgan rolled his eyes and went to his side, taking the book from his hand and putting it the right side up. Reid had been reading it upside down.

"Thanks." Reid said in a low voice, aware of the disapproval on Morgan's gaze.

"You're welcome. Now I'm asking again. What were you thinking man? She's married now."

"I know that. Nothing happened."

"Then why both of you are walking on eggshells around each other?"

"Okay... we talked and reminisced about the past. She had a nightmare, okay? And... I might have... hugged her and kissed her." Reid glanced down the corridor where the McGee couple had vanished. "Do you think he noticed something?"

"Kid, he has been working, living and loving a profiler for years. She has been mentoring him to become one. If I've picked it up, you can be sure he did as well."

"Nothing happened. She didn't let it."

"Still... that's wrong, Reid."

Reid threw the book aside, completely dropping the reading act and looked at Morgan with a sad puppy look on his face.

"I know."

"I know you've carried a torch for her for a while, but she has made a choice now. A choice all of you have to live with now."


	38. A very serious conversation

_**Chapter 38: A very serious conversation**_

_**Before I met my husband, I'd never fallen in love. I'd stepped in it a few times. - Rita Rudner **_

McGee closed the door of the bedroom and turned around, finding Joy fidgeting a few steps from himself.

"Okay, how are you? Tell me the truth."

She reacted unexpectedly as she jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around him and hiding her face in his chest, "I _really_ missed you."

"Me too." He hugged her back, feeling her shaking in his arms. "You're still not well, why don't we..."

Whatever words he was going to say were silenced with her lips, as she glued herself to him and moaned with contact. He squeezed her against his chest, feeling the familiar burning in his chest.

"Are you..."

"Didn't you miss me?" She asked softly, biting his earlobe as she took the opportunity to run a hand under his shirt over his back, bringing a shiver to him.

"Ah... uhm… yes."

"Then show me."

The excitement coupled with the worry of the few days made him finally throw caution out of the window and obey his urges. He used a hand to hug her against his chest at the same time the other went to her hair, grasping at it at the same time he guided her backwards to the bed. Finally her legs hit it and folded. They fell on it with a thud and he showed her exactly how much he missed her.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"I know." McGee whispered softly a while after they had finished, the sweat of their exercise slowly cooling over their bodies.

They were on their backs on the bed, taking deep breaths as their heartbeat slowed to normal.

"Know what?" She murmured, unwilling to move a single muscle from where she was resting against his chest.

"What happened between you and Reid." McGee said softly, breathing deeply before turning his head to look at her. He studied the pinched look on her face, but she controlled whatever was in her mind to look at him with clear eyes.

"Nothing happened."

"Don't lie to me. Something indeed happened." He studied her troubled gaze. "I can see it in your eyes. I could feel it in your touch. You're never been that clingy. That needy. Almost as if you were trying to erase something with my touch."

"McGee, please..." She sat down, the duvet firmly held against her breasts as she looked to the window unable to meet his gaze.

He sat down too, aggravated. "Don't _McGee, please_ me. I might not know what happened but something happened."

"Nothing _important _happened."

"Really?"

He threw his legs out of the bed, looking for his trousers and underwear. Once he found them he started putting them on.

"If it is important to you to the point that shakes you that way... It is important to me."

"He..." Joy gulped, closing her eyes before her confession. "He kissed me."

McGee froze, his hands over the waistband of his pants before buttoning it up. He looked over his shoulder, asking softly, "Did you enjoy it?"

Joy folded her legs, hugging her knees over the duvet edge, "What do you want me to say?"

"I want the truth, Joy."

She stayed in silence, which prompted McGee to stand up and look for his shirt, without glancing at the sorry figure on the bed.

"A marriage can't rely on lies and half truths if it's supposed to survive, Joy. You know that."

"Okay, you want the truth? I've enjoyed it, okay. Now, it's out in the open. Are you satisfied now?"

He turned around and looked at her, who was now sitting at the bed and looking angrily at him as tears of shame started rolling down her face.

"Do you want a repeat?"

"What?"

"I asked you, _do you want a repeat_? Do you want to kiss him again? To be touched by him?"

"Timothy, no! I don't want him. I loved the guy but that was thousands of years ago. I'm with you now and nothing is going to change that."

He stared at her, incapable of stopping his turmoil, uncertain of what was the right way to react in a situation like this. His mind was in bubbling with different outcomes, but his chest physically hurt from the effort of holding down a shout of anger.

"I... called out your name." Her confession came out in a whisper.

"What?"

"When... he kissed me. I … hurt him so badly before because we were so wrong for each other... despite of how good we were together."

She stood up, slowly taking a step towards him.

"I hated and abhorred deeply men in general thanks to an awful previous experience and there was this sweet geeky guy who literally worshipped the ground I stood upon. I was flustered and confused and charmed by his attention but neither of us knew how to take the next step. Or even if we should take it. He might not have been my first lover but he was the first person I've ever cared about enough to let him get close to me. The real me. You can't erase that. But things got to a point that … we couldn't keep going as we were. We were destined to different paths and … when I looked at my future... I couldn't see myself by his side. So I've left."

McGee looked at her with hurt eyes, slowly considering her confession.

She continued. "I can't erase my past. Neither can you. But when I think of my future, I see it by your side. I've given my future to you, I've deposited it in your hands and unless you decide that … you don't care or you don't want it anymore, I'm not taking it back. I don't accept returns, Tim."

McGee didn't move a muscle, just watching her as she shivered in front of him, looking at him silently pleading him to understand. He kept staring at her without saying a word and she finally folded, breaking into sobs and sitting again, rearranging the duvet around her body as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Joy…"

"When did I become such heartless shrew, Tim? I hurt him, I hurt you, without even a thought."

He rubbed a hand over his face, feeling faint stubble already appearing on his skin.

"I don't know what to say…"

"He _hurt_ me. I told him to let it go, to leave my mind alone, but he blundered ahead and dug around my memories without even blinking or considering how violated I would feel. All that mattered was finding out answers consequences be damned. But it hurt, it hurt a lot, so I wanted to retaliate."

McGee slowly sat down on the edge of the bed, a huge schism between them. He stared at her as she spoke between sobs.

"So I cut him where I knew it would hurt the most. I knew how and where to hurt him so I did it. I promised Gideon I would never tell but I was hurt and I knew how damaging the information would be so I … told him."

He blinked slowly as an idea popped in his mind. He gulped dry air as he saw how broken she was, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"I promised him."

"Promised who?"

"Gideon." She whimpered, still crying.

"This isn't about the kiss anymore, is it?"

Joy wiped her head to stare at him with her face glistening with tears. She bit her lip as if trying to keep the words inside, but he wasn't about to let it go.

"Tell me, Joy, what is this about?"

Joy rubbed her red eyes with trembling hands, "You're not going to like it."

"I don't like it already." He said, seeing her sigh and stare blankly ahead. "At least I'll know what I'm not supposed to like in all this."


	39. What we once were

**_Chapter 39: What we once were_**

_What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now. **~Author Unknown**_

_But there's a danger in loving somebody too much,  
>and it's sad when you know it's your heart you can't trust.<br>There's a reason why people don't stay where they are.  
>Baby, sometimes, love just aint enough.<em>

**Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough – Patty Smith**

Her shoulders slumped down, as if she had no strength in her body to keep her secrets inside anymore. Whatever she was hiding was so huge that was literally smothering her under a very unhealthy dose of guilt. All he had to do was wait until she folded under it, so he kept silent, just watching her.

"How old am I, Tim?"

"What?"

"Just answer the question."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Please, bear with me." She begged in a quivering voice.

"You were born in November 1979 so … you're over thirty. How is that connected with what happened with Reid?"

She whispered in a faint voice, "How old do you think Reid is?"

McGee had to stop to answer that one. He blinked at her, trying to figure out that puzzle. "Uhm… I don't know. Thirty?"

"He's twenty-eight."

McGee shrugged, not seeing her point. She sighed tiredly, closing her eyes.

"We've known each other for twelve years, Tim. Just do the math."

He frowned, mentally counting backwards. Finally the hammer of knowing hit him between his eyes, making him look at her with startled eyes, seeing her recoiling from him as she blushed deeply under her tan, shame floating out of her in waves.

"Oh, God, Joy…"

She wrapped the duvet tighter against herself, swinging to and fro slowly as more tears fell over her folded arms unchecked.

"Gideon called us his _'Beautiful Disaster'_. Watching us together was like seeing a train wreck, fascinating and fatal."

She wiped her cheek with a shaking hand and turned to him, her eyes low as she felt unable to meet his gaze and see the horror and disgust on his face.

"Gideon met Reid in an FBI seminar at his university. He was already in his first or second PhD. Or maybe one of his B.A.s, I don't know, and Gideon immediately took him under his wing. When I came back from England Gideon introduced me to him and he just sat back to watch nature take its course."

Joy sighed, "He wasn't seventeen yet then."

She took the chance of looking at McGee's face, seeing him looking at her with shock written all over it. "We were a disaster waiting to happen. The _socially awkward genius_ and the _emotionally crippled shrink_. We hit it off straight away and we became buddies, then friends and soon we were … everything to each other. We were so desperate for affection that we would take whatever scraps thrown at our feet, and we fitted in a very disturbing way."

McGee sighed and supported his elbows on his knees, his open palms holding his aching head as he could hear the blood rushing through his veins as Joy's words echoed in the room.

"I took him home with me on the night of his eighteenth birthday. Gideon knew straight away what I've done – the man had to, he had been my therapist and confident for years, he knew my head inside out, he knew me better than I knew myself – and told me to enjoy while it lasted, because it was bound to end badly."

McGee turned to look at Joy and found her staring blankly to a point on the wall. The tears were still falling, wetting her cheek and neck, but her gaze was lost somewhere in her past.

"He… he told me to enjoy the boy's affections while it lasted, because… I wasn't ready to attend the man's needs. The boy would grow up and with that so would his demands, and I wasn't ready to meet them."

"He was already eighteen. He had manly needs."

"Spencer has Asperger's syndrome. In a lighter degree than most clinical cases that usually need medical supervision but then he has never been truly diagnosed. He spent most of his childhood and teenage years trying to take care of his own schizophrenic mother alone, so his own mental and emotional health were neglected for a long time."

"What's that supposed to mean?" McGee shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the facts being dumped on him.

She looked straight at him. "It means his emotional age is two or three years lower than his biological age. It doesn't mean much when you're in your late twenties, but when you're an eighteen year old genius…" She left it hanging, waiting for McGee to connect the dots.

He finally did. "He was just a kid. A young fragile kid."

"Yes. And Gideon _knew_ it. And what's worse is that I _knew_ it too. But I was such a selfish bitch that I didn't care. I enjoyed it and I milked every single drop of affection I could, because I was so desperate to have someone to love me that I would take him, no questions asked. I felt sometimes like a geisha, giving lessons on love with an eager pupil. He would bring books and poems and ask if we could try this and that and I would let him, because I knew that his affections were sincere and that he would never raise a hand to hit me or try to abuse me emotionally as my last lover did."

She rubbed the edge of the duvet on her face, in a vain attempt to dry her skin so she could look at McGee with clear eyes. "We were so good together and at the same time so wrong for each other. One day Gideon gave me an ultimatum: he told me that our _liaison_ had already reached its fateful end. He needed Spencer sharp for his upcoming training at the FBI, not a lovesick happy puppy with his older lover. And thanks to Spencer, I wasn't in the miserable funk I had been since my first lover's murder. So both us had healed enough to keep our own paths apart. It was time to break it off."

"He manipulated both of you."

"He knew us too well. And in the end, when Spencer was twenty he told me he loved me and… I panicked because… I couldn't say it back. I couldn't tie him to me because I couldn't love him back the way he needed me to love him. So I went to my supervisor and requested a transfer, lied through my teeth and two weeks later I was across the country. And so it ended."

Joy stopped and looked to the floor, waiting for his verdict.

"There were… other moments. When he later came over to LA or when I had to attend a seminar or a case in DC, we would still get together for a night or two. But it wasn't the same thing. Finally I told him that he had to look for someone his own age and let me go."

McGee studied her for a while, seeing how she bit her lower lip, her gaze downward, and how she nervously held the duvet against her naked chest. She was ashamed of what she has done, both in the past and now. She was in pain, but hell, so was he.

"Joy." He called out.

She sniffed, but didn't give any sign she had heard him.

"Hey, look at me." She sighed and looked at his eyes briefly, before her gaze went downwards. He wouldn't accept that, so he lifted one hand and touched her chin, gently forcing it up and making her meet his gaze.

"I'm hurt." She bit her lip, but he wasn't finished. "Not only by the kiss but by what you've done too." She gasped but tried to hold her tears back, failing miserably to do so. He leaned towards her and held her by her shoulders, both of his hands squeezing the silky skin under his fingers. "But I can't rest until I ask… the kiss… uhm…"

She rubbed her nose and glared at him, "The kiss. Let's talk about it. Did I like it? Yes. Did I enjoy being kissed by him? Yes, he's a good kisser. I know that because I _taught_ him that. So of course I enjoyed it. Do I still have feelings for him? Hell, yes. You can't shove what I've felt and what I've done under a rug and pretend it never happened. It doesn't work like that."

McGee squeezed his fingers deeper on her shoulders, feeling his chest hurt as his heart sped up. She was shaking as she continued, "Now, the most important question: _Do I want him back?_ No. Because there's no going back to what we had. That Joy doesn't exist anymore. The same way that Spencer doesn't exist anymore. We were young, stupid, needy. We were children clinging to Gideon's words as gospel, jumping through the hoops he put in front of us, desperate for his approval. We can't go back. And even what we had together was so wrong and so sick that it wouldn't have lasted if we kept insisting on it. We weren't mature enough for a serious relationship, either of us."

She shook her head, "We're different people now. We've made different choices, we have different lives. And between him and you, I would choose you. _Every single time_."

She shrugged his hands off her shoulders and moved back on the bed, dragging the duvet with her and made a small fort around herself, as she supported her back against the headboard and stared blankly ahead.

Now and then McGee would hear her sniffing and wiping her nose, but both stayed in silence for a few minutes digesting the last few minutes of the conversation. He rolled the facts in his head, studying it carefully, patiently seeing all players involved and how things unfolded to reach the situation all of them were.

"It's like you and Abby, you know."

"Uhm?" He turned to look at her, finding her silently crying staring at her own hands folded on her lap.

"You are not the same probie brought out of Norfolk to help Gibbs' team. That innocence is gone. That young man who dated Abby is no more."

"Don't make this about Abby and me. It's not about me. It's about you and…"

"Tim, _you_ know how you feel about her. _I_ know how you feel about her. Hell, _she_ knows how you feel about her."

That shut him up.

"But we all know that this is a door that must remain closed. The window of opportunity is gone, never to open again. You're not the same man. There were other experiences, newer scars, different mindsets. Even if you wanted, even if you tried, it would not be the same. It will never be the same. It's over."

He studied her for a while, as she forlornly rubbed her fingers over the wet spots on the duvet. "Sometimes love just isn't enough."

He sighed and sat there, digesting all that had been said and done. He was hurt, hell, yes, but as she had just said, it was their past. They hadn't met yet, they hadn't fallen in love yet. What she had done was appalling, taking an emotionally fragile person – a much younger person – as a lover. The fact that she had been manipulated by Gideon from the very beginning did not make her exempt of guilt. She had been the one who made wrong choices which were causing ripples until today.

Yet she was right. There was no going back. She didn't want what she used to have with Reid, the same way that he had no wish to return to the always uncertain relationship he once had with Abby. What he and Joy had today was so much more than their previous relationships and it shouldn't be torn apart by their past.

Even if their past sometimes decides to poke its head out and mess with their present.

He sighed again and looked over his shoulder, finding her in the exact same position as before. He slowly crawled on the bed and went to her side, imitating her position with his back on the headboard and his legs stretched out in front of himself. He then kept staring down at her face until she blushed and forced herself to look up at him, still crying. He silently put a hand around her shoulders, nudging her to lean against his chest, which after a token protest she acquiesced and hid her face against it, wetting his wrinkled shirt with fresh tears.

"Joy."

"Uhm?"

"The kiss. Don't ever... ever let that happen again." He whispered against her hair, feeling her nod in agreement against his chest, still silently crying. He sighed and started rubbing her back, feeling her emotional turmoil slowly abating.

He hid his face on her neck, inhaling her familiar scent mixed and feeling the familiar response from his body to it. Crap, he was becoming DiNozzo. Here he was, after a major fight with his wife and all he could think of was how warm she was in his arms, how alive she had felt when they were together just a few minutes before their world came crashing over their heads with accusations, pain and guilt. He inhaled deeply and felt his heart speeding up.

"Joy."

"Uhm."

"This is our first serious fight after we've got married, isn't it?"

She nodded against his chest, unwilling to move.

"Can we kiss and make up now?"

She froze for a moment sniffing lightly before she looked up with red rimmed eyes to him, her face blotched from all the tears she had just cried. She rubbed her cheek and looked up at him confused.

"Now?" She croaked, her voice raw.

He shrugged, a light smile gracing his lips as one of his hands went to her hair trying to tame its unruly curls. Finally he touched her chin and lifted it so he could touch her lips with his, a gentle touch, which soon heated up as he leaned forward and his lips voraciously took hers in a bruising force.

Finally he let her go, touching her forehead with his.

"Don't ever... ever let that happen again."


	40. Findings

_**Chapter 40: Findings**_

_**"Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy - in fact, they're almost incompatible; one emotion hardly leaves room for the other. Both at once can produce unbearable turmoil..." Robert Heinlei**_

McGee came out of the bedroom the following morning and found Morgan sipping coffee over the reports they had been studying the day before.

"Coffee?" Morgan offered and McGee gladly accepted it, going blindly to the counter where the fresh brew was. He poured himself a cup, added cream and sugar and inhaled it, feeling finally awake as the caffeine started to run in his veins.

Morgan smiled as he watched the NCIS inhaled his cup, before preparing a second cup and sipping it slowly once the craving had been satisfied.

"How is she?"

"Dead to the world. She didn't even move when I stole one of her pillows." He sat in front of Morgan, his glance falling on the reports in front of the BAU agent. "At least her fever is gone."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

"Listen man, about what happened yesterday... do you think she will be okay?"

"She is the strongest person I've ever known but I think everyone has a breaking point. Finding out about her father... facing the fact that people who she had met at some point of her previous life are now dead because someone is hunting her down... It's hard. It's very hard."

"Reid poking around her mind while she is under hypnosis couldn't help either."

"Yeah... that's something I still have to address." McGee looked around seeing no sign of the younger profiler. "Talking about him, where is he?"

"He went outside to gather some wood."

"I gotta talk to him."

"He's sorry for what he's done. I've already spoken to him and he's really sorry."

"Uhm..."

"But man, there's something that he's found out that... we would never have figured out if he hadn't poked her mind."

McGee gave Morgan a glare, unwilling to believe the profiler who was looking at him with concern, as if the news he was about to disclose gave him a bad taste in his mouth.

"What would that be?"

"Gideon is the one who helped her bury her memories."

"What?"

"After their little hypnosis session, Reid decided to dig deeper and had Garcia check Joy's old therapy files, from the time Gideon met her back in late 1980's."

"And?"

"There's nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? She has been under therapy since early on. There must be something in her files."

"That's exactly the point. There would be something if there were files to be seen in the first place. Joy's therapy files have never been filed at the FBI archives, there's no trace of them in the system."

"Are you saying they have been deleted?"

"I'm saying they've never _existed_."

"How?"

"According to Joy's parents interview reports, which by the way are on file, Joy was so traumatized that she couldn't even speak when they've first met her. When Gideon came into the picture they investigated the source of such trauma and we have reason to believe that they've uncovered enough that, after a conference between the therapist, Gideon and Joy's adoptive parents, it was decided that she would be better _not_ remembering them."

"What? So they simply took away her past, not even asking for her permission? Erasing years of her life?"

"McGee, see it from their point of view. The only thing she was able to remember - her mind was stuck into an endless loop, going over and over again - were torture, beatings and pain. It's no wonder she couldn't even speak and flinched at any attempt of an adult touching her. So we are guessing – we have no evidence of it, it's all a theory, but a valid theory nonetheless – that the therapist slowly put a lid on it, with a small trigger embedded in her subconscious that would release the info once she was an adult and strong enough to deal with it."

"A mental time bomb with a set date to go off." McGee muttered, his gaze unfocused as he considered yet another problem they had to deal with.

"Basically, yeah."

"Wouldn't that be unethical to mess up with a child's mind like that?"

"In theory, yes. But think man if they hadn't done that they would have to institutionalize her as she could barely function, McGee. The simplest thing evoked extreme reactions and they were at loss of how to deal with it. It was harsh and it was an extreme action, but at that time... it was the only way."

"Crap."

"Crap indeed."

"But... how does it connect to what Reid has done?"

Morgan sat back and rubbed his open palms over his bald head, before looking at McGee.

"Reid told me he wasn't trying to hypnotize her. He was simply trying to help her calm down and go into a more relaxed state. We call it a visualization exercise, in which we ask the witness to rely on all her senses to review what she had experienced in a crime scene. The witness is awake the whole time and we rarely have problems with this."

"But why did she freak out like that then?"

"Reid said that from the moment he told her to visualize her nightmare, she immediately went into deep trance. That's unheard of. She then described everything, the sounds, faces, people. It was as if the memory was simply there, just waiting for a little opening to resurface."

McGee sighed. "Great."

"And she's felt hurt by Reid's actions because she considered them an invasion of her privacy. But still, all he had to do was tell her to visualize it and she could access the memory. Almost..."

"As if she had been programmed to do it."

"Yes."

"How nobody has ever found this programming in her mind? She has been under therapy for years, we've been treated together for trauma for weeks and our therapist has never mentioned anything about it."

"Maybe because she was simply following the information on her personal file. There's a notation on Joy's records that, unless expressly authorized, hypnotherapy is not to be applied in her treatment. Ever."

"When I think something is over, case closed, finished... we uncover a whole new nest of vipers to poke."

"Yeah, man. Sorry for pouring all that on your lap."

"Nah... Just my luck, I think. Now we have to deal with it."

McGee looked out of the window, noticing the lake and the tree line a few feet away from the house. He caught a glimpse of a reed thin man catching twigs by the edge of the water, his moss green pullover looking huge around his body.

"Now, if I may be excused, I gotta catch some wood for the fire too."

"Ah... okay."

Morgan grimaced as McGee left the house, closing the door with a thud and crossing the gravel road towards the edge of the water where Reid had been seen for the last time.

"I'll pray for you, little brother." Morgan muttered, uncertain if he was talking about Reid or McGee.


	41. A mantoman talk

_**Chapter 41: A man-to-man talk**_

**_"Jealousy lives upon doubts. It becomes madness or ceases entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to certainty." François de la Rochefoucaul_**

McGee slowly approached Reid, who was on his knees collecting wood for the fire. The fresh breeze coming from the lake pushed the pullover closer to his chest, showing how thin the young profiler was.

"Let me help you with this..."

Reid glanced up at McGee and smiled weakly, each on a different side of the path gathering wood. They worked in silence for a while, each stealing glances at the other, unwilling to be the first one to speak. Every time that Reid looked at McGee's face there was either a scowl or a frown on it, as if he was uncertain if he was sad or mad at him.

Finally Reid couldn't take the tension anymore, so he stood up and looked at McGee, who followed suit and stood there, both of them with their arms full of wood.

"Are you going to hit me?"

McGee blinked at him. "Should I?"

"Ah…" McGee's answer surprised Reid, who looked at him confused. "I… think so." He frowned, as McGee just stared at him without moving. "At least, that's what would be my first reaction if I had just found out that my wife has been kissed by her ex."

"I see." McGee slowly dropped the wood on the floor, keeping a thick sturdy branch on his hand. He swung it on the air a few times like a baseball bat, noticing how Reid's eyes widened and fixed on the wood hissing in the air. "So you think violence is the right way to solve a situation like this."

"Ah… I … I don't know. I've never been in a situation like this."

McGee nodded, lowering the log and using it as a walking stick as he went towards Reid.

"Me neither, so I'm kind of making it up as we go."

Reid gulped and resisted his first instinct to run back to the house, or in full panic towards the woods. He forced himself to stay, slowly dropping the wood to the floor and flinching as McGee stopped right in front of him, staring at him with a frown.

"You see," McGee looked towards the water line, leaning heavily on the log. "I'm hurt. Hurt at you. Hurt at Joy. But that's to be expected. What I'm really surprised is how… _angry_ I feel."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness." McGee said without pause.

He received a sloppy smile from Reid. "Joy told me the same thing."

"Really? I'm surprised."

"Why?"

"She's not one to abide by Gibbs' rules. At least most of the time."

"There are situations that warrant them, I guess." Reid said, shuffling his feet nervously.

"Do you have something to be sorry about?" McGee wasn't about to make it easier for Reid, waiting to see what he had to say.

"Yeah. I... it was wrong of my part."

"Yes, it was."

"She really loves you know. And she is happy with you. She told me that."

"Good."

Both men stayed silent, staring at each other for a minute. Reid was a blinker, and McGee had faced enough staring contests with Gibbs to know what to expect.

Reid couldn't face him for long so he blinked and looked down to the path.

McGee sighed and looked to the woods as he said between gritted teeth. "I'm not angry at you. Or her. I'm angry at Gideon."

That surprised Reid, who lifted his eyes to look at McGee with awe. "Uhm…"

"He knew exactly what was going to happen when he put you two together. He had it all planned right from the beginning."

"You can't know that."

"Ah… I know enough. You two are great profilers, but you two can't see it from where I stand. You can't see the woods from the trees. He molded you both and your relationship was just a step towards his own selfish goals."

Reid shook his head in denial, but there was fire on McGee's eyes when he turned to look at him. Reid was speechless because McGee wasn't angry _at_ him, but _for_ him. "He _knew_ Joy had sworn off men from her life thanks to that bastard of her professor in Georgetown. That didn't fit his plans. And he _knew_ how emotionally deprived you were thanks to your own family situation. He _knew_ that when he put you two together she would immediately take you under her wings, but he expected _you_ to take your infatuation further, in order to push her to overcome her own insecurities and take you in."

Reid gulped. "Ah… you figured it out too, uhm?"

McGee nodded stiffly. "Yeah."

"So…" The younger man stuffed his hands on his jeans pockets, rolling on the balls of his feet. "What are you going to do now?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Okay." Reid bit his lower lip, lowering his gaze to the log still firmly held on McGee's hands. "Just let me know when you decide."

"Okay."

"Good."

Both men stayed in silence, just the chirping of the birds and the wind between the trees filling the void of conversation.

Reid gulped. "Have you decided yet?"

"No."

More silence.

"Have you…?"

"No."

More silence.

Reid finally couldn't take it anymore. "Listen, if you want to hit me, just do it, okay? I can take it."

McGee kept looking at Reid and after some consideration, let the log fall with a dull thud on the floor. Reid gaped at it, then at him.

"I think you both have been punished enough. You were manipulated like pawns in a master's game that you had no defense against. Gideon knew exactly what he was doing. And this… little indiscretion…" McGee closed his eyes and gulped, hard. "Because that's what it was, an indiscretion, it was only a weak moment between two very wounded people. But that's all it was: a moment. But don't ever let it happen again."

Reid gulped and nodded enthusiastically, not willing to let go this second chance. "It won't happen again."

"Good. Because if it does, I can't be held responsible for what I'll do to you."

"Sure. It won't happen again."

"Good. So …" McGee took a step further, staring into Reid's eyes, without blinking, giving him the best version of Gibbs' glare of his whole life. _"Keep your hands off of my wife."_

Reid blinked like crazy, nodding. "Okay."

Having delivered his message, McGee took a step back, then another, giving some breathing space to Reid. He nodded and went to the bunch of wood he had gathered, took it into his arms again and started walking towards the cabin.

"McGee, may... I ask a question?" Reid's shaky question made him freeze on his way.

"If I can give you the answer." He said over his shoulder, without turning round.

"How... did you know she was the one? How one can know that a person so different from yourself can be... someone so vital?

McGee turned to Reid, trying to see if he was joking or making fun of him, but all he could find was a man really interested in this answer. He saw much of himself in him, seeing the same self doubt and uncertainty, the eagerness to find something... but unsure where that thing might be.

"I've read extensively about the subject, both the classics and modern literature seem to present an almost ethereal view of what love is supposed to be, but in my experience this feeling is merely result of biochemical processes in the brain which activate primitive areas, being mystified by those who seek a deeper meaning into..."

McGee shook his head lightly, a small smirk gracing his lips as Reid kept going on and on about theories of what love was supposed to be. He left him talking for a while until he got fed up. "Reid, shut up."

Reid stopped and McGee spoke, his voice sure and his eyes clear as he poured out his heart to the younger man to see.

"When she hurts, you hurt. When she bleeds, you bleed too. When she is cold, you feel it all the way to your bones. That's what God meant when he said you two will be one flesh. If she is in danger, you will freely give your life to keep her safe."

McGee took a step towards Reid, staring at him without blinking. "When you find a person who would die for you and who, given the chance, you might kill for or die in order to protect her - that's when you know she's the one."

Reid slowly nodded, turning his words on his head.

"Have you killed for her?" His question came in a whisper.

"Yes." McGee's answer came loud and clear.

"Has… has she killed for you?" This one came in a surer voice, as Reid was looking fascinated at McGee as if seeing him for the first time.

"Yes."

"Would you die for her?"

"Yes."

Reid looked down to the dirty path, sighing as he considered McGee's words.

"That's good enough for me. I understand it now. Thanks McGee."

McGee still stared at the young profiler studying the dirt under his feet as if fascinated for a moment or two, before turning towards the cabin and walking to the door.

Once he entered the room, he found a freshly showered Joy already in jeans and a jumper looking over some crime scene photos with Morgan.

She looked at him tensed up, her gaze fixing on his face looking for any sign of distress. When he smiled at her she relaxed, her shoulders going down as she pointed to the crime scene pictures and waved at him to come closer.

McGee dropped the wood on its proper place and sat down beside her on the sofa, sharing a small smile with Morgan to indicate that all was well. They kept working in silent camaraderie for a while until the door of the cabin opened again letting Reid in.

He dropped his own wood on its place and looked shyly at them, receiving a tense wave from Joy and a relaxed nod from McGee. She glanced at her husband and saw no sign of trouble on his face so she slowly relaxed.

Reid sat down beside Morgan and they started working together, going back to a normal camaraderie. Reid meanwhile was furtively observing the couple. His gaze settled on the two NCIS agents, reading their body language and finally understanding, seeing their touches and glances as they poured over the case.

Joy somehow must have felt his gaze on her and looked up, silently asking him if everything was fine with an arched eyebrow. He smiled, took a crime scene picture from the table and urged everyone back into work.


	42. Meeting the Master

**_Chapter 42 – Meeting the Master_**

McGee and Morgan explained to the two marooned agents that, thanks to the information given by the SAC of the task force back in 1987, Hotch and Rossi were on their way to interview Liam Swanson, head and all around big honcho of the Zenith group until it was debunked.

"Who is this Liam Swamson?" Joy asked, sitting beside McGee at the sofa.

Morgan glanced at McGee before looking for another folder of pictures in the computer. He put a picture on the screen, turning the laptop so she could see it.

"Do you remember him?" Morgan asked her.

Her reaction was swift and powerful.

She paled and jumped out of the sofa, blindly running towards the bathroom where just a few seconds later all three men could hear gasping and violent vomiting.

"I think the answer is yes." Reid said, glancing at McGee who stood up and went after his wife, who kept retching in the bathroom until there was nothing left to come up.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

That same morning Hotch and Rossi had already landed in Michigan and were being directed to the interview area from the Maximum security wing of the Federal Prison where Liam Swanson was being held since 1988.

They crossed the long gray corridor flanked by both sides by security guards which could have been Las Vegas club bouncers, their eyes always alert towards any aggressive movement of any of the inmates towards the Feds.

Finally they reached a heavily secure area, where they had to patiently wait until one of the guards gave his biometric access code through his handprint to open the concrete door.

They entered that block and were directed to an interrogation area, where they would wait in the observation room until their target arrived for their interview.

"Liam Swanson." Rossi said, going to the one way mirror and studying the empty room in the other side of the reflective surface. "What do we know about him?"

"He's a textbook psychopath. His real name was Edgard Liam Swanson and he was born in New Jersey in 1954. He entered to the criminal world at the tender age of ten when he was enlisted to as a low man for a local criminal Mafia don in New York. He slowly rose in the ranks thanks to his callousness towards his victims, which he had great pleasure to torture before finishing them off. He fell from grace with the local Don when Swanson coldly killed his second in command at the tender age of nineteen. His victim was two times and a half his age and he still left the corpse barely recognizable. Finally he fled New York and decided to install himself further north. His first combat with the police was a few years later under fake name, finally appearing as the head of the Zenith on early 1980's already as Liam Swanson."

Rossi opened the folder and started reading, his voice never showing any emotion towards the atrocities listed in there.

"According to his file he has never really recognized the risk of being caught by his actions. As a result of this he was deeply surprised when he was actually arrested and judged by his crimes. He indiscriminately kidnapped, tortured and maimed dozens of people all in order to keep his empire running. A highly intelligent individual, but incapable of empathy towards others masked by a very cultivated veneer of politeness and social graces."

"What's his connection with the physical abuse and the floggings?" Hotch asked, just to see Rossi close the folder as a tall blond man entered in the interrogation room in a typical orange jumper of inmates, his hands and legs shackled.

"According to Lindenberg, he liked to have his followers beaten but he didn't like touching their skins. The cat'o'nine tails gave him distance enough to inflict pain, see the blood running and still keep his hands away from the mess."

"Just what we needed, a cleanliness addicted sociopath." Rossi murmured, observing the proceedings patiently.

"Let's talk to him." Hotch pointed to the door, signaling to the guard to stay in the observation room while they spoke to the inmate.

Both Feds entered the room and stood each at one side of the table as the guards fixed the bolts of the chains at a corner under the table.

"It's been a while since I've had visitors." Swanson said smiling. "To what do I owe the honor of the presence of the FBI?" Swanson pronounced each letter of the title a long way, mocking the agents.

Rossi nodded to the guard who went to the corner of the room and folded his arms, always alert and ready to kick the inmate's ass if he tried to move a muscle against the visitors.

"I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner and this is SSA Rossi from the FBI. We need information." Hotch said as he sat along with Rossi in one of the chairs across the table, just to make Swanson laugh, throwing his head back as if Hotch had just told him the funniest joke in the world.

"Don't we all, sir?"

Hotch studied the man in front of himself noting each line in his face, looking for some weakness he could explore. "Someone is killing off former members of the Zenith group."

"Uhm... Why should I care?"

"One by one they are being hunted down and flogged to death." Rossi said, expecting to see some reaction but seeing none.

"The time has come."

"Time for what?"

"To punish those who believed to be away from the hands of the Master."

"Who is the master?" Hotch asked, just observing Swanson's hands placidly resting on the table, no sign of tension on him.

"Wrong question, Agent Hotchner. For a man of your intelligence, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet."

_Time to change the line of questioning_, thought Hotch.

"Why are these people being punished?"

"Because they believed they could step away from the Master's clutches. No one can. There is the Master … or death. No other option."

"Who is the Master?" Rossi insisted.

He grinned and didn't answer the question.

"Why are they being killed?"

"It's the _Purge_. Everyone who betrayed the Master in exchange of a new life must be punished. Everyone."

"Are you the Master?" Hotch asked.

"Me? I've been called that. Occasionally. But I'm not The Master, you understand what I mean? He is everywhere. Even here."

"Who is doing this purge?"

"Anyone. Everyone. I don't know."

"It must be someone who has deep connection to the Master, right? In order to understand his orders and desires."

"Yes, someone who is very close to him."

"Who would that person be?"

"There's only one person who can hear and understand the Master's wishes as if spoken loud and clear."

"Who?"

"The Servant."

Rossi and Hotch exchanged a look at that info.

"Why do you think the killer is the Servant?"

"Because the Servant was the channel through which the Master's wishes were finally known. He revealed them to Servant and Servant would communicate to us, his vassals, what we should do."

"Our killer isn't the Servant."

"It must be."

"No, it isn't."

Hotch opened his folder and put four different autopsy pictures on the table, each showing the bloodied backs and the carving written on them.

"Whoever is killing the former member of the Zenith group is searching for her too."

Swanson recoiled from the pictures, looking at them with cunning eyes before raising an eyebrow to Hotch. He leaned his head to the side, a reptilian smile on his face, "You know where _she_ is."

Hotch sat straighter, reviewing his last words and mentally cringing at the slip of his tongue.

"I've never said the Servant was a _she_. So you must know her," said Swanson, his gaze firmly on Hotch's face.

"Why would someone try to pin those murders to the Servant?"

_"Bring her to us!"_ Swanson screamed, his voice tone changing as his face became red with barely contained rage.

"What? Who is _us_?" Rossi was surprised by the complete change at the inmate's behavior, from suave to sanguine in a few seconds.

_"She was hidden from us. For years we couldn't see where they hid her! Bring her to us!"_

"We're not bringing anyone to you. Now sit down!" Hotch shouted and gestured to the guard to hold the inmate seated on his chair.

_"We shall not answer any other question until you bring the Servant to us!"_

"Wait a minute, _We_? who is _us_?" Rossi stood up and looked at an equally confused Hotch, as Swanson literally changed of manners and personality in front of them.

Hotch observed the man being forcibly held down on his chair looking at them with a different glint in his eyes. He finally remembered previous cases they had worked on and a long lost talk he had with Gideon several years back, when they sat down to talk about why they did their job and why it was so important to have it done at the best of their ability.

He approached the man and leaned forward, asking in a very suave voice.

"I just have one more question."

The inmate growled and stared at Hotch with rage in his eyes, all polite veneer gone, only insanity and anger was left.

"What is your name? Who am I now talking to?"

Swanson growled but didn't answer.

"ANSWER ME!"

_"Leeeeegiooonnnn..."_ The Destroyer growled, looking at Hotch through Swanson's eyes. _"For we aaaarrrreeee maaaaannnnny."_


	43. Strategic Planning

**_Chapter 43 - Strategic Planning_ **

Quantico is a tiny town with a big reputation to uphold. It had officially a population of only 561 people according to the census in 2000, but what made it well known around the globe wasn't its scenic river but the fact that it was completely surrounded by the largest Marine Corps Base in the world and it also housed the DEA headquarters, the FBI Academy and Labs.

It was also considered one of the safest places to be, considering the number of marines, feds and all types of federal employees walking around at the base.

So, when both the BAU and the MCRT decided to congregate at the BAU office in Quantico, they were hoping to ensure that none of the team was in danger, specifically the agent they had moved from the safehouse to their headquarters.

Morgan, Reid, McGee and Buchanan were in the elevator waiting for the right floor as a heavy silence filled the air between them. Hotch had called Morgan that afternoon after their interview in Detroit and requested him to move Joy to Quantico, so she could offer assistance with something he didn't feel at ease to comment on the phone.

"It certainly brings back some memories, doesn't it?" Reid commented to Joy, his eyes firmly on the panel slowly marking their ascent to their floor.

"Ah, it does. _Déjà vu_ all over the place." Joy muttered, a small smile on her lips as she looked at McGee and squeezed his hand lightly, glad to feel him squeezing it in return.

Finally the doors opened and the four agents left the car towards the glass doors of the BAU division. Morgan opened the doors letting McGee and Joy enter the small bullpen, the grey walls still the same of so many years ago giving Joy a wave of nostalgia as she looked around.

"Is it as you remember?" McGee asked, squeezing her hand trying to catch her attention.

"Yeah, but there's something that I don't miss at all."

"What?" McGee muttered, following Morgan and Reid who were walking towards the BAU conference room.

"The grey walls." She looked smiling at McGee, "I kinda like the orange walls at NCIS."

He grinned, extremely glad to see a new shine on her face, much better than the pale colors of this morning after her impromptu run towards the bathroom. Truth to be told, usually after being terribly sick, she would always get better after washing her face and eating light crackers, she would look like a new person, almost radiant.

She felt his gaze resting on her face, his eyes floating over her features, "What?"

"You're beautiful." He muttered, a love filled gaze in his eyes.

She grinned and glided her hand over his arm, squeezing it lightly as they walked side by side, "You're biased. But thanks."

They walked into the conference room and saw that everyone was already there, from Gibbs' team to all members of the BAU, including...

"Hey, sweetie." A redhead in a flower power dress in fuchsia and lime green approached the couple, making McGee do a double take on her as he blinked repeatedly to clear his sight from temporary blindness.

Joy grinned, letting go of McGee's arm to hug the short plump woman, "Thanks Garcia. I'm happy to see you again."

McGee grinned at the scene, waving at Tony who was sitting beside Abby whose eyes were totally focused on the screen of her computer.

"I don't think you've been formally introduced to my husband, Timothy McGee."

Garcia looked him up and down, grinning, "No, but we've spoken online. The Almighty Goddess of the Information Highways, the one and only Penelope Garcia."

She offered her hand not to be shaken, but to be kissed. McGee couldn't help a grin as he looked at the saucy woman and bowed and kissed her bejeweled hand, with several colorful glass rings in her pale fingers.

"Ma'am."

"Ah... you were right, he is polite."

"Enough pleasantries, let's get started." Hotch unbuttoned his jacket and pointed to the seats, receiving a nod from Gibbs who took his position by McGee's and Joy's side.

"Thanks for agreeing on meeting with us, Buchanan." Hotch said as icebreaker.

"I was happy to oblige, sir, but I was under the impression it was an order, not an invitation." Joy said as she took a seat at the conference table, flanked by Gibbs by one side and McGee from the other.

Hotch tried to smile, but his seriousness was so intrinsic that it looked more like a grimace.

"I'm aware of the pressure you are under but we might need your insight in a few things. Your safety is our first concern so you will stay here within the BAU walls until both..." he looked at Gibbs, receiving a nod from the older man, "our cases are closed or until the danger is gone."

Both Joy and Tim nodded in agreement prompting Hotch to signal Garcia who immediately started typing something on her laptop showing several dots on the map of the western part of the continental USA.

"We are gathered here today to review what we've unveiled up until now and trace a profile that might allow us to catch this killer." Hotch said, opening a folder on his hand and looking at the papers in it.

"We also need your help to put some information together, regarding both cases." Prentiss said, passing a folder for her and for McGee.

"Yes, sir, ma'am." Joy forlornly opened the folder, seeing her biological father's service record face in the first picture.

"We were able to ascertain fairly accurately that your biological father's killer was Mr. Trent Williams. I was told that Reid has helped you unblock deep buried memories that corroborate this thesis." Rossi said, his hands folded over the table studying the profiler across the table.

"Yesss... sir." Her words were almost inaudible, which made McGee glance at her concerned as she touched lightly the service file in front of herself.

"Very well. We were able to put Williams in Detroit at the same time you were there, but we have no idea how he lost your guardianship to Swanson." Prentiss said, seeing how shaken the young woman was as she stared at her blood relative in front of her.

_She probably had no memories of how his face looked like_, she thought.

"Was she positively ID'ed among the children rescued from the Zenith compound?" Gibbs asked, taking charge of the questioning as Joy stayed mute.

"We have photographic evidence." Hotch said. Seeing Gibbs still doubting, he elaborated his answer, "We've showed the pictures of that time to her sisters. Both Faith and Hope confirmed that the child with Agent Lindenberg matches the one adopted by their parents back in 1988."

"I see." Joy sighed and looked at McGee, gulping lightly as she considered the info. "Who is Agent Lindenberg?"

"He's the man who saved your life." Prentiss took a thin photo album from a bag somewhere close to her feet and put it on the table, pushing it towards Joy, who looked confused at it before looking at Hotch with a huge question mark in her eyes.

"On the night of the raid, you were found drowning in a large pond in the back of the compound. He swam and took you out, administered CPR and stayed by your side until the doctors confirmed that you would survive. Later on he was also the agent responsible for keeping any mention of you out of the FBI files, effectively erasing any trace that might lead to you in a posterior investigation." Hotch explained gently, observing the play of emotions on her face as she tried to put the info together.

Gibbs had already been briefed, so his poker face was stronger than Joy's.

"Why?" She moaned, turning to Garcia who had raised his hand, asking for the chance to explain.

"Protection." Garcia said, clicking on something and showing an aerial view of the property in Detroit in the plasma.

"You see that muddy point here," she pointed with her cursor. "That was the pond you were rescued from by him. Later on you somehow informed him that there were corpses underwater and thanks to that finding, they were able to nail down the bastard - as well as twenty-three others from the organization - for several life sentences."

Hotch continued, "Lindenberg cut a deal with the DA to completely erase any mention of a little child matching your description from any piece of paper related to the case in order to avoid repercussions, as well as pleaded with his bosses to help find a proper family to keep an eye on you. After much pressuring on all sides, he was able to convince them that _he_ was the most capable for the task. But by them it was already too late."

Morgan was tapping his pen rhythmically on the table, looking at the NCIS agents before him as he spoke, "You had already ran away from the temporary home Foster Care had put you in. Once you hit the streets, they couldn't find you anymore."

Prentiss leaned on the table, her hands touching the cover of the photo album, "May I?"

With a nod from Joy, Prentiss reverently opened the photo album and showed several pictures of a little girl in a hospital gown, very young and very pale and with a dreadful head of untamed curly hair, sitting on a hospital bed beside a bald man smiling at the camera. She had several IV lines attached to herself, a couple coming out from her gown. The little girl looked sickly thin, but the brown eyes and the huge smile were unmistakable.

Joy went to the next page and frowned at something she saw, which repeated in every single picture she looked at as she looked at the next images.

"Tim, come here and check this out."

"What?" McGee leaned towards her side, looking at the photos she was studying with a frown.

"Do you see what I see?"

"You looked sick."

"No, not that. This here." She pointed with her finger a blue dot which repeated in every single picture. She waited until McGee finally saw what she was pointing to him, before finally looking at Hotch as McGee took the album from her hands and started leafing through it, his face deep in a frown.

"Agent McGee?" Rossi's tone held a question.

"It's in every single picture."

"Yes." Joy agreed, looking at her husband as he went to the beginning of the album and started checking the first pictures, nodding his head as if agreeing at something.

"What is in every single picture?" Reid asked, noticing that the agents had found something of significance in the photos.

Both McGees looked at each other, sharing a silent moment of communication, the type that only exist between married couples after a long relationship.

Finally McGee said to Hotch, "We … while we were back in Glasgow, before the wedding, we were able to find the house Joy used to live before being found and adopted by the Buchanans. It's an old abandoned property at the north part of the town and it hasn't been officially inhabited for at least thirty years."

"What that has to do with the pictures? And how can you be sure that there is a connection?" Ziva asked, not sure of what what they were talking about and how could that be related to the pictures they were looking at.

Joy leaned forward, looking at Ziva as she thought about their time in Glasgow in those weeks before the wedding, "The only reason why we were sure that I've lived in that house at some point is because we found a threadbare toy in one of its kitchen cupboards. An indigo blue unicorn."

McGee turned the album to Hotch and pushed it open over the table, so the man could look at the pictures.

"Exactly like the one found in every single picture in this album." McGee pointed to the blue dot lying on the lap of the smiling kid.

Hotch frowned at that, sliding the album to Rossi so both could check it. Indeed, in all pictures there was the bald man, the little girl and the blue unicorn.

"Gideon gave me one unicorn too. When I was at the hospital after Hope and I were kidnapped." Joy said as her gaze became unfocused trying to recall something that happened almost twenty years ago.

Gibbs frowned as he remembered something, "Your father told us that he had bought you one when you were a kid too. I've just remembered when he took it to the hospital after Commander McGee's attack against Sarah and Timothy. How can you be sure that one isn't the same one?"

"Because Dad had already given me an unicorn before Gideon. I've never reacted to other shapes of teddy bears or toys but for some reason Dad's always said that I preferred horse shaped toys since day one. They had just gotten my guardianship when they took me into a toy shop with the other kids, I grabbed a unicorn one and didn't let go regardless of what they've done and said. They had to buy it for me. That's how I've got _Ducky_ from my Dad."

"And they probably related the same tale to Gideon, prompting him to buy the same shape of toy you had already showed your preference." Morgan added, rubbing his hand over his bald head, glancing at Penelope who was nervously picking her fingers.

"It's not the same toy Joseph gave to Joy because Joseph's and Gideon's gifts are still at the house in Montana. The one we've found at the old house was completely dusty and threadbare, as if it had stayed untouched for years in that cupboard." McGee said, pointing to the toy at the picture before Hotch.

"Then that's another piece of physical evidence that confirms that the girl in these pictures is the same one adopted by the Buchanans." Hotch said, reaching the latest picture in which the bald man was sitting in a child sized toy, holding the brown haired girl in his arm who was looking adoringly at the blue winged unicorn in her arms.

"But we already knew that." Prentiss added, unhappy for breaking the mood.

"What we need now is to know how Liam Swanson got you from Trent Williams." Reid said, glancing at Abby and blinking nervously as she smiled brightly at him.

"Were you able to interrogate him?" McGee asked, seeing the uncomfortable look exchanged between Hotch and Rossi.

Finally Rossi said in a low voice, "Yes, but not about that."

"We questioned him about the murders of the former members of the Zenith. He claims that it's a ritual called the _Purge_, where all those who tried to escape the Master's hand will be punished." Hotch explained, studying Joy's face after any flicker of recollection of it.

"His words were '_There's the Master or death_'. Those who tried to escape are slowly being killed." Rossi looked at Gibbs, who shook his head disagreeing with Rossi.

"But he has been in prison since 1987. Is he giving the orders from inside the prison, picking who is going to be the next victim?"

"We don't know yet. There are no records of visitors and he's been in solitary confinement for six months. There's no visible connection between him and the killlings." Rossi said.

"So he's not the killer." Ziva added to the conversation.

"That's not what I've said." Hotch interrupted, receiving glares from the Israeli.

"So what have you said?" Tony was equally confused.

"I've said that we right now can't see the connection, but there is one." Hotch said it slowly, considering each word before saying it.

"He was gleeful to receive visitors, almost as if he were expecting us." Rossi commented, reminded of Swanson's smile.

"If he's not behind the orders for the murders, he still might know who our killer is." Hotch added.

"Someone from the Zenith cult?" Ziva asked, receiving several nods in return from the BAU members.

"We're leaning towards that hypothesis." Hotch admitted in a low voice, just to receive a glare from Gibbs.

"Then what do we really know? Did this guy corroborate anything at all?" Gibbs' patience was reaching its limits.

"He clammed up after I inadvertently revealed that we were aware of your whereabouts." Hotch said looking at Joy, who shuddered lightly and folded her arms as if she had felt cold.

"Oh. Now what?"

"He said he would reveal what he knows only to the Servant."

"After going through a complete personality change." Rossi leaned his chair back, waiting for a reaction from the agents around the table.

"What do you mean?" DiNozzo piped in, confused at the expression on Rossi's face. "He started singing opera or used a different accent..."

Rossi and Hotch exchanged glances.

"Try a totally different personality." Rossi said to the NCIS agent, seeing the reactions bubbling up around the table.

Hotch leaned forward and looked at Gibbs, listing the changes they've had seen, "He changed the tone of his voice. His manners, the way he was sitting on the chair. His hands and ticks did not match the ones from the beginning of the interview. It was actually as if we were talking to a completely different person."

"Split Personality disorder?" Reid offered, just to be shot down by Hotch, who shook his head in a big no.

"I don't remember any mention of mental diseases in his file." Prentiss started going through the file again, trying to find something she might have missed.

"Because there isn't any." Rossi said, looking at Prentiss, who froze and stared at him confused.

"Paranoid Psychopaths are very convincing in pretending to be someone else." Reid added.

"I don't think he was faking it." Hotch disagreed, just to be interrupted by Morgan.

"He might be good but enough to fool two profilers like Hotch and Rossi? No man, that won't cut it. Hotch, care to explain?"

Hotch tapped his big thumb on the table, staring at the polished surface looking for words to express what was going on in his head. Finally, he glanced at Gibbs saying, "We've... seen a lot in our line of jobs. With time we learn that it's part of the job to face evil regardless of the form or way it presents itself to us."

"What are you talking about?" Gibbs wasn't liking the path Hotch was going to.

Hotch's gaze left Gibbs and landed on Joy, who had become pale as if guessing what he was about to say.

"I think that man truly believed he was possessed. The second persona we spoke to identified itself as _Legion_, as _they_ were many."

His words elicited varied reactions: Reid was paralyzed, trying to find a scientific explanation for it while Garcia and Abby made the cross sign over themselves. Ziva shook her head, unbelieving while DiNozzo simply shuddered, not willing to go down that road.

Prentiss just shook her head, unwilling to believe while McGee and Joy were both pale, but their expression did not show the disbelief he had expected to see in them.

Gibbs was... well... Gibbs, he didn't give a hint of what he was thinking about.

"Come on, Hotch. Do you really believe this horror movie crap?" Morgan couldn't help expressing his displeasure at his boss.

"It doesn't matter what I believe. What matters is that man believes it. And he's right now the only source of information to point out who is the unsub we're dealing with who is targeting members of his former group, as well as he's the only one who has the key to unveil the missing link between Lorelei Knox's disappearance and the appearance of the Servant figure, who would later become Joy Buchanan. We have to make him talk."

"What does he want?" McGee asked, squeezing firmly Joy's hand under the table.

"He... _Legion_... wants to see you." Hotch said pointing his finger to Joy, who paled and looked afraid to McGee, who stared at her with a heartfelt expression on his face. Both kept looking at each other trying to see what the other thought best, but all options right now were either bad, worst or total crap.

"You don't have to do this." Rossi said gently, seeing how Joy was looking at McGee as if asking for his opinion.

"Do I have any other option?" Joy finally whispered, looking up at Hotch, who stayed silent. Their silence was more than enough answer for them.

"When do we leave?" McGee asked, squeezing his wife's hand in his, not voicing his worry about what the meeting that was about to happen.

"You don't have to come with us. We'll be in and out in just a couple of hours."

"Wherever she goes I go." Joy smiled shakily at McGee who said that to Hotch with determination in voice. "There's no way in hell I'll let her stand before that creep alone."

"Very well." Rossi agreed.

"Wheels up at six tomorrow morning." Hotch said, standing up from the conference table indicating that their meeting was over. "Let's grab some food and crash, we'll leave first thing in the morning."


	44. A special video session

**_Chapter 44: A special video session_**

The team slowly gathered their papers, notebooks and pens and got together in small groups to get ready for the following day. Abby came to McGee and Buchanan's side hugging her laptop tightly against her chest, her bright green eyes studying the tired looks on her favorite couple.

"Hey, Joy, we're working hard to solve your Papa's case and we will soon have this creep by his balls." She said gently, opening her arms and offering a hug.

Sighing tiredly, Joy hugged the Goth back for a moment before letting her go. "I know, Abby. And thanks for digging all this out. Morgan told me you were the one who traced Trent to that cemetery in Detroit."

The Goth looked sadly at Joy, thinking about how difficult it must be for the profiler. First you find out you had a mom and dad just to find out that they are all dead. Not only dead, but one of them was murdered in a cruel way. And the killer, that useless creep, is also dead.

No chance of retribution on sight.

"We do what we gotta do, Joy. But I wish I could have done you more for you."

"What could you possibly have done besides this?" McGee asked, "This is more than enough."

"I wish I could give you a body so you could use it as target practice." Abby added with a pout, bringing smiles to Joy and Tim's faces.

"You've been hanging out too long with me and my sisters. You're already starting to think like a Buchanan."

Abby shrugged but did not hide her grin, her eyes shining mischievously at the couple. JJ came into the room and whispered something in Rossi's ears, who glanced at the couple before nodding to the blonde media liaison. They finally parted, JJ following Prentiss and Reid out of the conference room as they went to their own desks to pack their things before leaving for the night. Reid nodded to his colleagues and went with Morgan as he left the bullpen, being followed by Ziva and Tony who would stay at Gibbs' place for the night.

Rossi exchanged a glance with Hotch and Gibbs who were quietly ironing out some details of the interview which would happen the following morning and approached the couple.

"You two may take my office. There's a comfortable sofa where you may rest for the night. Garcia has already left a go bag for each of you there that DiNozzo brought from your place. We'll be leaving at first light."

"Thanks Rossi." Joy said to the older profiler, who glanced at Abby and nodded almost imperceptibly.

Abby broke out in a huge smile and looked at McGee, her eyes shining. "You'd better go then. I'm sure you have a lot to talk about. And there's a little surprise for you in there."

McGee frowned, not sure about Abby's intentions. "What have you done, Abby?"

"Just trust me, okay? Go." She ushered both of them out of the conference room, and Rossi guided the couple to his office. They entered the room after Rossi opened its door, looking around at the tastefully decorated area as Rossi smiled at the couple, nodded politely in a goodbye and left, closing the door after himself.

Looking around McGee found a very comfortable looking leather sofa bed already arranged as a bed, with pillows and a throw blanket that must belong to Garcia judging by the colorful disarray of its colors.

_There's no way Rossi bought that for himself,_ McGee thought. He noticed the sturdy table with small objects of art arranged on it, indicating the fine tastes of the man he knew was a well-known author. But what really caught his attention – as well as Joy's – was a small TV and DVD player set up on a small table opposite from the sofa.

Joy approached it and touched a DVD case, finding a small _post it_ on it. McGee got curious and approached her, so she showed it to him.

There were only two words on it. _Watch me._

McGee looked up at Joy who was looking at the DVD case almost as curiously as he felt, so after a shrug he took the case from her hands and pointed to the sofa bed. She went to it while he put the DVD on the player, killing the lights and going to her side once the images first came blurred, then became clearer.

It was the Knox's family video.

McGee felt rather than heard Joy's sharp intake of breath as she saw her own mother, barely out of her teen years, talking to a smiling man in a brand new uniform. They would share laughter and gazes, their feelings already exposed to anyone with eyes to see it. Sometimes a tall man with a booming voice would appear and slap the young man in uniform on his back, their kinship evident on their build and coloring.

Later there were scenes of a young woman in a seventies attire, down to the hippie skirt and the round wire glasses, talking to the man in the uniform. When side by side, their kinship was also evident as both of them had the same sharp grey eyes and high cheekbones. McGee smiled as he recognized the younger version of Dylan's sister, Dora, while still in her youth and rebel phase.

McGee then turned his gaze on Joy's face and observed as she stared at the TV as images of her parents' lives slowly unfolded before her awed eyes.

A Thanksgiving dinner.

A Christmas party.

The tall man laughing loudly as Laura shyly offered a glass of cider to Dylan.

They both sitting together on the steps of the front porch, watching something go by.

Then the wedding scenes and the reception. Everybody seemed so happy and enjoying the moment, completely unaware of the end the fates had prepared for them.

Dylan hugging his wife, dancing slowly in his gala uniform and she in her wedding dress.

Dylan talking with Laura with a go bag at his feet. He was apparently saying goodbye before going on a mission, as Laura clung to him unwilling to let go. He kissed her gently, before walking out of the porch towards the transport waiting to take him to the base, leaving Laura alone behind.

Joy started to silently cry as new scenes of her mother appeared on the screen. She looked older, but she was radiant as she held a baby onesie in her hand. The first one read _'Daddy's little girl'_. Then came '_My daddy is a marine and can beat the poop out of you'._ She finally lost it as Laura showed another one_: 'My finger may be small but I can still wrap my daddy around it!'_

McGee wrapped an arm around Joy's shoulders as she couldn't hold back the sobs anymore. She hid her face in his chest and cried, her mind trying to cope with the idea that life could have been so different, there was so much promise, but…

"He… he…"

McGee hugged her tighter, feeling the tremors running through her body.

"He loved you very much, Joy." He whispered against her hair. "Both of them did." She rubbed her face against his chest, raising a shaking hand to the back his neck. "They were deliriously happy with the idea of having a child. They knew the dangers. Laura had already lost a baby in the third trimester. But they were willing to risk everything for the chance of having you."

She lifted teary eyes to his, sobbing lightly as he continued. McGee glanced briefly at the video, which showed now Dylan soothing a newborn in his arms.

"When Laura died, Dylan was heartbroken but he had promised her that he would do everything in his power to protect you. And he did it. And he would have done it again and again if given the chance."

McGee wiped his cheeks, surprised to find wetness on them. He gulped and continued. "Dora, your aunt, she has never given up on you. Or him. She moved back into the house where Dylan lived once she's got her divorce and kept it as it once were. She kept watching that video year after year, longing to see you or Dylan again. When the investigators gave up and made his disappearance a cold case, she kept looking." Joy sobbed, looking down to their joined hands, and she noticed the wetness of both her tears and Tim's on them. "She is still there, Joy. Just waiting for you to come home."

Joy bit her upper lip, trying to stop her tears. "Do I… do I get to meet her?"

McGee lifted a hand and gently wiped her cheeks, "I promised her that as soon as the case is closed, I would take you there."

She smiled at him between her tears, leaning forward so she could hug him. He closed his eyes and glanced briefly at the video, which now showed Dylan in the garden sitting on the grass with a small toddler.

He gently pushed Joy onto the sofa bed, arranging the pillows so they could both comfortably watch the rest of the video. His arms were kept firmly around her shoulders, squeezing her lightly against his chest whenever she was overwhelmed by a scene or other. They watched it until the end, finally falling asleep over the covers exhausted from their day, unwilling to think about what other challenges tomorrow might bring to their path.


	45. Servant's visit

a/n: Okay people, you need a little warning here. Remember that on the very first chapter I've said that this was a story about angels vs demons. Yep, here we are.

So if you get queasy on extremely bumpy battles between good x evil,**_ I suggest you stop reading_**. Things will be rough for a while, and they will only get downhill from here onwards and it will be a very fast ride. I don't want you getting sick on your shoes (or all over your keyboard).

By the way, _***knocks on the screen*** _Hey **_Noraque_**, remember our little conversation back in June? That little showdown you suggested me is going to happen now. Stay tuned and then tell me what you think of it.

Back to the story:**_  
><em>**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Chapter 45: Servant's visit <em>**

**_Illinois State Penitentiary  
>8:38 am<em>**

Early the following morning, the small committee formed by Gibbs, McGee, Hotch, Rossi and Buchanan entered the Illinois State Penitentiary at the beginning of visiting hours and were guided by two heavily armed guards to the maximum security section, ignoring the stares and glares of the inmates at the wrong side of the iron bars.

"He will try to exert power over you but he has none. You have to control the interview right from the beginning. Ignore any insults or mental games he might try to play with you and focus on what we came searching for." Hotch said, his gaze flickering to the cells at one side or the other, seeing the movement of the inmates and deeply aware of the evil atmosphere hovering over them.

It was like a heavy and wet blanket trying to push them down, making them tired and extremely sensitive.

"I know the drill, Hotch. I've been to these custodial interviews before." Joy muttered as she felt McGee silently squeeze her hand into his in a show of support.

They stopped before the same biometric locked door of their last visit and while the guard unlocked it Hotch said to her, "But none of them were with the bastard who abused you when you were a little child."

Joy looked up at him, seeing his worried gaze on her face.

"I'll be fine."

Hotch studied her face and seeing no hesitation, he turned to follow the guards to the interrogation area. They were taken to the same dull gray observation room and were left for a moment alone while the guards went to fetch their guest.

Rossi studied Joy, who was staring ahead almost in trance observing the empty interrogation room though the one way mirror. She would breathe in, hold it inside and release it very slowly, obviously trying to hold her emotions in a tight leash. His gaze then fell on McGee, who was moving around like a nervous colt, eager to run at the first shot in a race.

"We're going to talk to the guards, we will enter first to prepare him to the interview and then, only then, you enter, okay?"

"Aye, Aye, sir." She said, her eyes moving nervously to the door leading to the corridor.

Both Hotch and Rossi went to a corner of the room so they could talk privately while Gibbs and McGee surrounded Joy.

"You okay?" Gibbs asked gently and that was Joy's undoing.

She looked at Gibbs with tears threatening to fall, but she sniffed and held them back at least for now. She was on the brink of a breakdown, trying valiantly to keep all her nervous energy in check. "This might be the biggest showdown of my entire life."

"Are you ready for it?" Gibbs prodded her, his gaze fixed on her face as she turned to look through the one way mirror to the empty interrogation room of the Federal Pen.

"I've been waiting for it my entire adult life." She admitted in a whisper.

A loud siren was heard and two truculent guards brought a chained man to the interrogation room through the door on the left corner. They slowly sat him down and chained his hands and legs to hooks under the table which was bolted to the floor, preventive measures to ensure that he wouldn't have enough slack in the chains to give him the chance of attacking the FBI agents once they entered the room.

One of the guards nodded to the one way mirror, the expected sign that Hotch and Rossi could come in. Another siren was heard and both FBI agents left the observation room, going through the open door down the corridor that would finally lead them to the interrogation room where Swanson was being held.

Gibbs stared at the man in orange overall, trying to match the monster depicted in the files they had studied exhaustively during the last days to the guy smiling brightly to the two FBI agents as soon as they entered the room.

Swanson had been an attractive man, but vice, lack of light and freedom had dimmed a little the overbearing personality that seemed to flow out the pictures the team had so carefully studied during the last few hours. His hair was blond, now starting to show a little bit of gray here and there; his once tanned face from many hours in the sun on extended holidays now had a sickly color, but he still had an aura of someone who was used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it.

Arrogance, unfortunately, is something that grows in a man even while he is in prison, as it rarely diminishes.

"I can't go in there with you but I'll be here, right behind this glass." McGee whispered against Joy's hair, whose gaze flickered from the monster of her past to her husband's eyes reflecting on the mirrored surface, looking at her with concern.

"You can't go with me but there's something that I need you to do." She turned around and hugged him, burrowing her face against his chest in a gesture so usual and comforting for them both.

"Anything." McGee kissed her curls and squeezed her tightly against his chest, unwilling to let go.

She smiled against his chest and rose on the tip of her toes, prompting him to lean down so she could whisper something in his ear that Gibbs could not hear.

When she finished, McGee stood up straighter, looking at her eyes attentively trying to see if she was serious about it.

"Just that?"

"Yep. They are waiting for just a phone call. The prayer cover is ready I just need a match to light a bushfire. I need you to give them the sign."

"Okay, I'll call your dad then."

"Good."

She turned to the mirror again, feeling his strong arms going around her and bringing her back against his chest. He rested his chin on the top of her head, following her gaze to the small room where Hotch and Rossi were talking with Swanson.

"Tell them to pray specifically for the defeat of Legion. That must be enough." Joy muttered, just waiting for her cue to enter the scene.


	46. Calling reinforcements

**_a/n: It might get a little bit confusing at first, but things will be explained later on. _**

**_And yep, Gibbs is going to have an eye-opening experience, in more ways than you can imagine._**

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 46: Calling reinforcements <em>**

"We came here for answers which we know you can provide us." Rossi said, not liking not even a tiny bit the ironic smile on Swanson's face.

The villain sat comfortably on the chair - as comfortably as his chains allowed him to sit - and looked mockingly at the Feds.

"Ah... but you're not being fair, officer. As I told you before, I don't have to give you answers until you give me something back."

"What makes you think you are in position of bargaining for anything?"

Swanson smiled, "You are desperate for answers which only I can provide to you." Swanson noticed the look exchanged between the two agents, "So you must have brought me what I asked if you returned. No gift, no deal."

"Even if we brought the Servant to you, what guarantees do we have that you would keep your part of the deal?"

"My secrets will be your secrets as long as she walks through that door."

Rossi struggled to keep his face unreadable while Hotch stared at the creep trying to see anything that he could use against him. That man was a liar, a thief, a con artist and a psychopath who had murdered dozens of people just to keep his little empire of murder and deceit going.

But despite his reluctance to subject his former agent's to this slimy creature's presence, he had a body pile that would likely only keep growing if they could not identify their unsub fast.

Hotch turned and looked at the mirror.

It was time.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Gibbs saw Hotch's look and turned to Joy, who had a blank expression on her face as she stared at Swanson as if she were hypnotized. McGee's arms were around her shoulders, but somehow Gibbs doubted she was even aware of where she was now.

McGee gently kissed her head and she blinked, turning inside his arms and hugging his middle firmly, as if trying to draw security and strength from that embrace.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

They kissed lightly and she went out of his arms, nodding to Gibbs before going to the door leading to the corridor. McGee promptly took his cell phone out and glanced at Joy, who paused to look at him as he finished dialing whatever number he had in there.

Finally he looked up at her as he started talking to whoever picked the phone in the other side, "Hi, Joseph, this is Timothy. Is the prayer group ready? Yeah, she's going in now. She's just waiting for your signal." He lightly nodded to Joy so she left the room towards the showdown of her lifetime.

McGee still spoke with Joseph for a few seconds, before disconnecting. Gibbs just looked at McGee puzzled by this strange conversation.

"Care to explain what this is all about?"

"I was calling for reinforcements, Boss."

"What kind of reinforcements?" Gibbs asked and for once he received an enigmatic glance from McGee, who studied the older man as if trying to measure him up, seeing if he was ready to hear what he was about to say.

"Boss," McGee bit his lip as he watched Hotch and Rossi staring at Swanson while Joy was still nowhere to be seen in the interrogation room. "If that man truly believes he's possessed by a cast of demons called Legion, our only chance against him is to have his enemies fighting on our side."

"English, McGee."

McGee turned to the interrogation room as two guards entered the room, "We've just sent a message to the Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts requesting his aide in this battle."

Gibbs stared at McGee for a moment as if he had lost his mind, sometime between their arrival in Illinois and their coming to the Penitentiary.

"And you expect me to believe this Commander will come and help."

"Yep."

"How will you know if he has received the message?"

Two very muscular guards entered the room flanking Joy on both sides and slowly approached Rossi and Hotch, standing between them in front of Swanson, who suddenly lost his smile and recoiled, afraid of them. Swanson's eyes kept flickering from one man to the other, never fixing on her but always at the men standing beside her.

"Ah, he did. He's already in there." McGee answered enigmatically, prompting Gibbs to look at the scene happening in the interrogation room.

And from that moment on, Gibbs believed.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Hotch and Rossi observed how Swanson started acting in a strange way, his eyes darting to one agent then the other, before fixing them at the wall closest the door. He started to shake his head, screaming in rage.

"No, no, what are you doing here? This is not my time, I'm not going! You can't come in here! It's not my time."

"What are you talking about, Swanson?" Hotch asked, noticing the increasing paranoia in Swanson's actions.

Finally the door opened and two guards came in, bringing a gasp from Swanson as he stared at the guards with huge eyes, following their every action. He whimpered when finally a short brunette woman came alone through the door, coming to stand between the two FBI agents, prompting Swanson to scream and recoil, his arms going over his head as he stared at the empty space over her left and right with glassy eyes.


	47. A call to arms

**_Chapter 47: A call to arms_**

What human eyes could not nor were ever meant to see was the strong circle of angels surrounding the swirling mass of demons attached to Swanson's body. Those celestial beings opened a path so two powerful soldiers disguised as human guards could approach the prisoner, bringing their precious charge between them.

Neither the FBI nor the prison guards could see the angels standing guard in the room, blocking any movement of the swirling mass of decaying spirits holding the human Swanson prisoner.

Joy finally stood in front of the possessed human and first just looked at him her human eyes. She also faintly opened her heightened senses her training under that man gave her as legacy. However, his plan had backfired because when Swanson insisted in training the little girl into the world he wanted her to dwell, he had no idea that the same girl would become the very tool of his destruction.

He wanted her to be his link of communication with his Masters. Yet the little girl somehow found a way to find and be protected by his enemies instead. He had opened her eyes to see the spiritual world in a way very few had done before without losing their grasp with sanity.

Tal, Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts and Captain of the Elite squad specially separated for this battle, delicately put his hand on Joy's shoulder, transmitting her calm and peace to face the battle ahead.

"He cannot harm you here. There are soldiers throughout these grounds, ask the questions you need answers."

Guilo glided his hand towards his sword hilt, eager for battle, but was stopped by Motta's hand on his arm.

"Not yet, my friend. His time will come." Motta said to the brave warrior, who sighed and stared at the swirling mass with disgust.

"Let's get this party started then."

NICS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Swanson took hold of his emotions and slowly relaxed on his seat, breathing and hissing loudly, finally looking at Joy with glassy eyes as he measured her up and down.

When he saw that the woman did not move or speak anything, just looked at him, he calmed down enough to seat in a more slouched way over his chair, leaning over the table with his hands splayed over it.

"Ah... you've brought one of your kittens for me to play. How nice..."

Her move was so fast that neither Hotch nor Rossi had time to avoid it.

She went around the table, grabbed his head and smashed his nose on the table, eliciting a shout of pain from the inmate and surprised glances from the guards, who had not expected such aggressive move from that tiny slip of woman.

"I've been dreaming of doing this for a long long time." She hissed before she released his head and went to stand behind him out of the reach of his hands.

Swanson gasped and lifted a hand to touch his nose, gingerly touching the blood that was seeping from his frontal kiss with the table. He licked it and smiled when he looked at her again, as she slowly went back to her position across the table between Hotch and Rossi and the two muscular guards, who were looking at him impassively.

"Servant."

"Master."

"The kitty has claws, I see."

"You seem different." Joy mused, looking at her with narrowed eyes, trying to pierce her memories together.

"Really? How?" Swanson reclined on his chair, eager to start this game.

"Shorter. Pathetic. But that's the adult in me looking at you, right?"

"You …" Swanson threw his head back and his face took a different expression. It became redder, the lines more pronounced and such was the hate irradiating from his eyes that one could almost touch it.

_"We've found you._" The swirling mass of demons in Swanson spoke through him.

Hotch and Rossi looked at each other aware of the change that happened in their guest.

"Legion, we have questions for you." Hotch started but he was cut short by the prisioner.

_"SILENCE!" _The thing hissed, glaring at Joy with hate.

"_Now_ we're talking business." Joy smiled, surprising both Feds as she pointed at Swanson. "_That's _the Master I remember." Joy took a chair from the table and sat in front of the spitting and twisting creature.

_"You've forsaken our ways and our path and made the Masters angry with your disobedience. There shall be grievous consequences for your actions."_

Joy was relaxed as she sat back on the chair, stretching her legs before her and looking at him with placid eyes, no hint of fear in any muscle of hers.

"I don't think so. They were never my ways. My path. They were imposed on me when I was but a child, with no chance of choosing. And still, I've never belonged to you."

_"YOU WERE MINE!"_

"I was never really yours, was I? That's why you had me _beaten_. You were never capable of breaking the defiance in me, the scorn of your ways that you've found in my eyes every time I looked at you every single day, right?"

Legion hissed and attacked the chains which held Swanson tied to the table, prompting the guards to rush to his side to press him down to his chair.

"Stop moving in the name of the Lord!" Joy shouted and the creature froze, hissing at her and staring with huge eyes over her shoulders to the two guards who had taken a step forward, their fists closing down eager to attack the inmate.

Joy leaned forward, staring at the red eyes shining behind Swanson's eyes, glaring at her eager to jump and strangle the life out of that weak fleshling.

"You were nothing but a pathetic little weasel with a God complex, who played with something that you could not control. When it decided to control you, you've found yourself without a way out."

Swanson started to choke, his breathing hissing as the creatures around him squeezed him, trying to get away of the burning blades of the celestial beings who made a circle around the swirling black mass of darkness hanging over his body.

"But something happened. _I happened_. I had something different in my life that you couldn't understand. You couldn't touch. So you dedicated a lot of your time looking for coward ways to destroy it."

Swanson tried to raise his right hand to scratch her eyes out, but for some reason he could not move it, despite the fact that there was some slack on the chain holding him down to the table.

_"You had a natural gift we could use. And we used you to do our will."_

"Not for long. I saw right through your act. And you were so pathetic that your only power was when you hit little girls, right? You don't look so powerful now."

_"Now that the Masters have found you, they will claim their price."_ The Destroyer spoke through Swanson's mouth.

"I don't think so." Joy smiled as Swanson/Legion jumped as if burnt, staring to an empty spot on his right. "I see you've met my friends."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

Motta grinned lightly as he touched one of the demons with the blunt side of his blade, making the creature's skin burn.

Tal glared at him so he stopped, pouting for not being allowed to dispatch the evil creature directly to the burning pits of hell.

"It's not time yet for battle. We came here for answers." Tal said softly, his eyes not leaving the red angry ones from the Destroyer observing each one of his movements with rage thanks to their last encounter more than twenty years ago.

"But I call dibs when we finally get to slicing and dicing." Motta said, glaring at one of the black creatures whose talons were deeply buried in Swanson's back.

"No way, if someone is calling dibs is me. I've wanted a chance against these wackos for years." Guilo pouted, looking chagrined at Tal when he looked sternly at the two celestial soldiers who fidgeted and shut their mouths.

"Focus, children."

NCIS NCIS

_"They can't protect you forever."_

"Ah, they've done a great job so far."

Swanson grimaced and looked at her, for once his human eyes were looking at her, no shadow of the Destroyer in them. "It wasn't my fault. They've made me do it. Please, make them stop. It burns!"

"You've invited them in, Liam. You knew the truth yet you chose the wrong way."

Swanson shook his head and again disappeared, letting Legion came back, struggling against the chains and forcing the guards to hold him down against his chair again.

_"We will claim our price for your disobedience!"_

"I don't care about their price. I care about answers. Tell me about Trent Williams." Joy said in a direct way.

_"Who?"_ The thing growled, looking with hate to something poking his right side. He kicked the empty air and withdrew his leg as if something had hit him.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Come on, spill it, Legion." Guilo poked him with his sword after swatting Swanson's leg, just to receive a hiss from one of the demons who glared at him with red beady eyes.

* * *

><p><strong><em>an: A little character guide/explanation:_**

Swanson's lines are written on a normal way.

_The Destroyer/Legion are written on Italics._

_**Who is who?**_

_Legion_ is the whole cast of demons.

The _Destroyer_ is the top baddie in the bunch of evil spirits.

Tal is the Commander of the Heavenly Hosts, Captain of the Army of God. Guilo, the strenght of many, is his second in command. Motta and any other angel mentioned later on are characters in Frank Peretti's books**_, This Present Darkness_**, all mentioned here without permission of the author. I just like them too much and tend to take them out to play sometimes.


	48. Visions of the Pit

**_Chapter 48: Visions of the Pit_**

"Trent Williams. He was a drug addict and pusher back in early 1980s in Detroit." Hotch said, noticing the tension on Swanson's posture at every time William's name was said.

_"I don't remember him."_ Swanson/Legion said very quickly and looked to the left and down.

"We have records of him being arrested with a man of your crew in Detroit back in 1984. Do you confirm that?" Rossi said and received a glare in response.

_"Why should I remember of a parasite?"_

"Why do you call him a parasite?" Hotch asked, ready to latch on that information.

_"Ah... because he was a nobody." _

"Nobody?" Joy asked, seeing anger building up on Swanson. Finally the anger exploded with Swanson screaming at the agents.

_"Yep, a nobody who thought he was somebody, but in the end I've proved him wrong."_

"How?" Rossi tugged at Swanson, taking another chair and sitting beside Joy, "How would you destroy such vermin?"

Swanson smiled but didn't answer.

"Did you have him killed, just like the others you kept down the lake in your property?" Hotch asked, straight to the point.

_"Pit."_ Swanson/Legion corrected him with a reptilian smile on his face.

Hotch looked confused at him, "Pit?"

_"We used to call it the Soul's Pit."_ Swanson/Legion explained, glancing briefly at Joy. "_But you already knew that."_

"Did I?"

_"Of course. It was one of your tasks as Servant."_ The Destroyer cackled, its laughter spilling like nails scratching a blackboard. _"You would dive in its waters and I would meet you down there."_

Joy blinked and had a sudden flashback.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

_Darkness surrounded her everywhere, the very light was sucked into it and lost forever. _

_So thick that a man could not see his own hand an inch away from his own eyes. Darkness surrounded her, suffocating, penetrating her very skin and bones, chilling her internal organs and trying to claim her._

_It wanted her life, her very soul. _

_She struggled within its grasps, fighting to figure out which way is up, which way is safety in the murky waters the monster had dragged her in. _

_She rolled on herself in nothingness and a saw a faint light flickering out of the water and struggled to swim to the surface._

_She fought for her life and struggled against her instinct to breathe the foul water, finally ending her life._

_As she approached safety, she could see the glimmer of light getting stronger. Soon, she would be out of danger._

_She swam to the surface but suddenly something caught her foot and started dragging her down under again. She vainly struggled against it, kicking it, fighting to go to surface, to safety, but its claws dug deeper on her skin, making her bleed and refusing to let go._

_She turned to see what was dragging her down and saw it again._

_A monster with pointed teeth, like claws, smiled a lecherous smile, its leathery skin mixing with the darkness in which it dwelt. Its claws were firmly sunk in her foot and its red eyes were watching her. It moved its wings, trying to swim back to the abyss it came from, dragging her with it._

_It hissed at her and for some reason, even under the water, she could hear its words._

_"You won't escape me, Servant."_


	49. A foreboding threat

**_Chapter 49 : A foreboding threat _**

"Joy?" Hotch called her out, bringing her out of a trance-like state. She blinked and looked at him with dazed eyes, trying to come back to the room with them.

Swanson/Legion was chortling, his chained hands hovering over his chest as his eyes never wavered from Joy's face.

_"You've seen me there."_ It said, touching its chin with an open hand, almost as if caressing Swanson's face with his own hand.

"Who is killing the members of the Zenith?" Hotch glowered at him, eager to finish the interview as soon as possible, go back home, take a shower and probably burn the clothes he was in, just to get rid of the evil atmosphere of that awful place.

Swanson/Legion leaned towards the agents and whispered, _"My Spear."_

Tired of that game, Joy decided to call it quits.

"You don't have one. You've never had one." Joy said and stood up, ready to get out of the room. She nodded to Rossi who led her to the door while Hotch gestured to the guards to take him away, indicating that the interview was over.

"What makes you think you are so special?" Swanson shouted in his real voice, prompting Joy and Rossi to stop before reaching the door leading out of the room.

"It didn't matter how much I cut you, you would still look at me as if I was a vermin, as if I was a sorry creature despite the fact that _I _was the one chosen by the Master to lead his army."

Joy turned to look at him, seeing the shadow of who that man once was under all the influence of the creatures who took residence in his soul, after his stupid decision to invite them over to take residence in him.

"I was the chosen one. I obeyed everything they asked me to do and prepared myself to make the right sacrifice and still, when the time came the Masters had to choose _you_! You! A pathetic little girl a junkie sold me for peanuts and drugs. I sacrificed everything in my life and still he didn't accept my offer and ordered me to put _you_ in the Pit."

"Why! Why did they have to pick you?" Swanson shouted in his normal voice, his eyes tortured as he stared at her with human eyes, before his brief moment of lucidity was gone and his eyes became once again hard jewels filled with hatred, coupled with a sarcastic smile that made her skin crawl.

She stared at him for a long moment, rolling his words in her mind and feeling satisfied to have the answer they had come for. She nodded at Rossi before going without a word to the door, not willing to say anything anymore.

_"The Masters will claim the youngest."_

Legion's words filled with venom halted their steps again. They once again turned around to look at him, while Hotch gestured to one of the guards to wait before dragging him away.

Swanson/Legion glanced at her middle before lifting his eyes up to her face, his sarcastic grin becoming bigger at each word he uttered.

_"There is always a price for freedom, Servant. And they will claim it in blood."_

"They won't touch any of mine. I won't let them."

_"You can't stop them. You can't avoid them. Everything in your life will be destroyed: everyone you know and love, everything you've ever believed in will be crushed in the hands of the Masters. And all I have to do is sit back and watch as your world implodes around you... But I have to ask...Why do you continue this hopeless fight? Why don't you simply surrender to their will?"_

Joy took a minute to answer that. She considered her life, her path, the people she had met in her life, and those who were gone. The sacrifices those she had encountered in her path had made to keep her safe.

And those who paid in blood for her chance to be alive until today.

"Because I've got something left to fight for."

_"That is a worthless task. You could never win."_ Swanson/Legion said, leaning over the table despite the efforts of the guards to drag him back towards the chair.

"In your opinion, perhaps. But surviving is one thing that I'm really good at."

She gestured to Rossi and Hotch indicating that the interview was over. Rossi held the door open, while Hotch left that suffocating room followed by Joy but, before stepping out, she stopped. Hotch saw her looking to an empty spot to her side, which flickered briefly.

_It must be a trick of light, _Hotch thought.

"Commander, he's all yours." She said, walking out of the room and joining the two men at the corridor.

The door wasn't closed yet when his screams started ringing inside the room.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Hotch and Rossi entered the observation room and immediately went to the one way mirror where Gibbs was watching with a horrified expression as Swanson was unchained from the table and dragged by two prison guards towards the door, while the two other muscular guards only stared down at him with glares that even he couldn't copy.

Joy, as soon as she entered the room, went immediately to McGee's side and hugged him, hiding her face on his chest as tremors ran through her body after the awful confrontation.

Two guards were trying to hold down the screaming and twisting prisoner, whose eyes were fixed at the two other guards who did nothing, just glared at him, their postures showing tension and eagerness. There was no doubt in Gibbs' mind that, if Swanson escaped from the first two guards, the other two would rip the inmate apart and wipe the floor with his ass.

Swanson/Legion kicked and tried to scratch the guards, who finally were able to drag him out of the room, only his screams echoing in the air. Only then the other two guards relaxed.

"Is this guy for real?" Gibbs asked.

"He is clearly showing dissociative episodes of paranoia, making him a typical paranoid schizophrenic." Hotch said.

"Yet he was speaking the truth. His version of the truth, at least the one which is real for him." Joy added, from the safety of McGee's arms.

"Do you really believe all that crap of Masters and Servants? He was the one behind the killings he was accused of, not an evil entity created only to take the blame and keep him unaccountable."

Joy left McGee's arms and turned to the older profiler, hugging herself as she looked at the empty room where the interview with Swanson happened. His screams and cursing were still ringing in the air making the agents cringe at the obscenities being hurled by Legion at them, at the guards, at everyone.

"Rossi... I can't really put into words what I've experienced at his hands as a child. But the one thing I can assure you of is that while I was in that room I've felt the very presence of evil. The same evil that was a constant fixture in every memory of my past whenever I tried to remember anything. It might seem to you just the ramblings of a deranged mind but for him that's the reality he lived in his entire adult life. You have to interpret it to the best of your abilities in order to reach the truth hidden under the layers of his psychosis."

"What do you suggest we do then?" Hotch asked, eager to get back on the road, away from the evil atmosphere of that place.

"We have to check the initial interviews of the case back in 1987 and review the last few minutes of his ramblings."

"Why?"

"He said in one of his few moments of lucidity and I'm quoting here _'What makes you think you were so special?'_" Joy saw the thoughtful looks on the older agents, so she continued. "There were other women and children found in the Zenith's compound. What if I wasn't the only child being _trained _but the one who was _chosen _for this task? What if I wasn't the only Servant?"


	50. Gideon's secrets are unveiled

**_Chapter 50: Gideon's secrets are unveiled _**

**_Somewhere in Ohio airspace._**

Gibbs and Hotch were sitting at the table inside the Learjet, talking in hushed tones and stealing glances at Joy who was staring at nothing quietly sitting on the sofa, lost in thought.

McGee came back from the small kitchen and sat down beside her, offering her a cup of tea which she thanked him for quietly. They stayed in silence for a while, sipping their tea.

"When... you first showed me..." McGee started softly, making her lift her eyes from her tea to look at him, "... that there was a world out there that we could not see that we… are completely unaware of, first I was charmed by the idea. Then I've got scared because..."

"It is terrifying, isn't it? The idea that our thoughts might not be really our thoughts. Our actions might not be really our actions."

"What… How… uhm…" McGee struggled to put into words his doubts, but he failed.

Joy took pit on him. "We are taught since we were kids that we have free will to do everything we want to do. But I think modern society has lost - how can I call it - the _sensibility_ to know that our eyes see only a little part of reality. We want only the right here right now and we forget that there's so much more to life. The material world is feeble and there's something out there that is beyond the grasp of any explanation any science may come up with."

"So you don't believe in free will."

"There's true freedom only in the Lord, Tim. Our very nature is sinful and if we are left to our own devices we will always choose poorly. Always. Even when we are in the Lord we hit our heads against the wall and still commit awful mistakes. And we have to learn to live with our past and learn how to forgive ourselves, because if we truly repent He is a loving God and he will cast away all sins, never to remember them again. But we usually have a hard time forgetting. A much harder time forgiving. When you open the floodgates of your mind and soul and willingly invite darkness to live within you, it's downhill all the way to a tragic end."

McGee sighed as he slouched on the sofa, his eyes resting on the wall of the plane, thinking hard about what she had said.

"And there's also the ying and yang philosophy." She muttered, her gaze back on the little amber liquid in her cup.

"Ying yang?"

"Eastern philosophy, most of the Taoism, Buddhism and other religions are based on the belief that there's no good without evil. That … if you believe in one, you automatically have to accept the possibility of its opposite's existence."

McGee nodded lightly, closing his eyes for a moment. "What do you believe?"

Joy leaned her head to the side, massaging a tense muscle which was giving her a bad time, pulling all the way to the middle of her back. McGee opened his eyes in tiny slits and saw her struggle, and promptly ran a hand over her back, pressing his fingers on the spot which hurt, receiving a hiss of pain in return.

"I believe God created Heaven and Earth. He rules over it and He must have helpers to obey his orders. But I've seen too much in my line of work to _not_ believe in the other players in this game. I know that such forces exist – I've seen then in action so many times in the eyes of killers who slaughtered innocents just for the pleasure of causing pain. Destruction for destruction's sake. No explanations, no cause and effect, no nothing. Just power over someone weaker than yourself. And I believe Swanson called unto one of them to give him power, money and fame. He was given all of that... but the price was steep."

"He said that they would claim a price." McGee murmured, his gaze on her face.

She frowned and reclined on the sofa, her head resting on one of the cushions so she could look at his face. "There's always a price. Either for good or bad decisions, reality is created through our reactions to things. We're always reacting and... there are always consequences."

Both agents looked up as Gibbs and Hotch sat in front of them, both with deep frowns. They were clearly pissed mad at something. Or in this case, someone.

"I think it's time to start telling us what you do know." Hotch said, looking from Joy to Tim. "We deserve to know the truth."

Joy sighed loudly and after a glance at McGee, she sluggishly sat straighter on the sofa before turning to Hotch. She measured him up with her eyes, trying to gauge if he was ready to have his world changed once and for all.

"What exactly did Gideon tell you of his first case with me?"

He blinked, surprised at her question. He observed Joy's frank gaze, studying him back with a hint of wisdom that someone her age shouldn't have.

"Apparently, not enough."

"Okay," She leaned against McGee, who put an arm over her shoulder to make her more comfortable against his chest. "What Gideon has never told you was that after a couple of interviews with me he figured out the reason why I was mute."

Gibbs blinked at that info. He glanced at Hotch, who was studying the couple on the sofa with eagle eyes.

"And?"

Joy sighed. "I was mute because I couldn't figure out those who were there from those who weren't."

Her affirmation brought a confused look to the two senior agents, who sat before her with matching frowns.

"What do you mean by that?" Gibbs ventured to ask, receiving a small grimace from Joy who glanced guiltily at him and at Hotch.

"That's why … I've got mad at Reid. Gideon made sure that was a door in my mind that would remain closed, never to be opened again and he made me promise him that I would never ever mention it to anyone. Such thing should remain a secret because otherwise he would not be able to put me in the FBI."

"Does your dad know?" Gibbs asked, receiving a nod from Joy.

"It was a gentleman's agreement between Dad and Gideon that prompted my sudden 'loss of memory'. I couldn't handle my traumas without a major psychological breakdown so they carefully buried them during countless sessions of therapy. After a while, the flashbacks died down and I was able to interact with others without freaking out. Only sensorial flashes remained. Most cases a scent or a sentence spoken in a particular way would trigger a violent response out of me, for example. But I finally had stopped … interacting with what I saw."

"Please elaborate on that." Hotch leaned forward, eager to hear the story straight from the source.

"Gideon said that I … saw things … that weren't there. But somehow I could draw them in minute details. Whenever I showed one of my drawings to an adult, they would freak out because I would draw... creatures hanging from their shoulders, whispering things in their ears."

Rossi silently came to sit closer, watching the McGee couple sitting closer as Joy tried to explain further.

"The tapes that Gideon recorded in my therapy revealed that someone whose moniker was Master _trained _me to be able to see the spiritual world in order to pass along orders from the demon he had sold his soul to in exchange for power. However, the demon had requested a prize for himself in order to communicate through it."

"The Servant." Rossi said, receiving a nod from Joy.

"Yeah."

"How did you get into the picture." Rossi asked gently, seeing Joy fidget nervously.

"The... thing... would … would give its message, I would draw it and give it to the Master to be interpreted. But the closest I got to the... that … that thing … the more my grip to reality slipped because everyone else was surrounded by … creatures like the ones in the lake, so I would try to … talk to them too, like I used to talk to the one in the lake but … the Master was jealous and possessive so he would order me stripped... and beaten... for my disobedience." Joy's voice slowly started to break, as she struggled to expose the little of her past that she was aware of.

"And that kept going on until you simply stopped talking." Gibbs said, observing how McGee protectively hugged her against his chest as she shuddered with the memory of those dark times came afloat.

"But something changed?" Hotch prodded.

She nodded.

"What happened?"


	51. A special meeting

**_Chapter 51: A special meeting_**

Joy closed her eyes, trying to put her jumbled memories in an order that might make sense.

"I don't remember being out of the property much. But I was free to roam the grounds all the way to its fenced limits. Right in the beginning of my days over there I walked all the way to the woods and there was a Man just sitting on a log, watching the lake. I was afraid of Him at first but He smiled so beautifully at me that my curiosity overcame my wariness, so I approached Him."

She lowered her eyes to her lap and started playing with the rim of her now empty cup, her slim finger sliding over the china.

"Real smiles were rare at Zenith and I was simply starving for attention. I took it wherever it might come from. That day I sat down with Him and we talked for a long while."

She smiled and looked up at Hotch, a serene smile on her face.

"After that day I would come to Him every single day so we could talk. It was the only time I was allowed to voice my thoughts without fear of being hit."

Rossi considered her words and asked, "Any idea of who that man was?"

Joy shrugged, "I've never asked. Questions or any hint of curiosity were forbidden to us, the children. But I remember one day… I was crying because I had convinced myself I was ugly. The Master had me beaten again. I was in pain and angry red marks covered my back. As soon as He saw me He took me into his arms and told me to touch His scars, asking if I considered Him ugly too."

She smiled as she continued her tale. "He told me that scars are just a symbol of something we shouldn't forget. And I clearly remember that my little girl's fingers could go through the holes in the palms of His hands, which went from one side to the other."

She nervously rubbed one of her fingers of her right hand into her open left palm, as if trying to imitate the actions of that little girl so long ago. The men observed her in silence, trying to understand what type of experience she had as a child.

"I've never asked his name. I only figured out who He was once Dad - Joseph - took me to the National Cathedral in DC in one of our first family trips and I saw a painting of Him hanging from a cross. The holes in His hands and feet finally made sense then." She shrugged, thinking back on that little oasis of peace in a childhood marked by pain and humiliation. "But I've never asked His name. And He never asked mine."

She looked up and looked firmly at Gibbs, then at Hotch and Rossi.

"I don't care what you believe in. I don't know what your faith is. But I know that after that Man started visiting me the Masters held no control over me. I still transmitted their messages, but they knew that I wasn't theirs anymore. I knew who and what they were and I recoiled from their presence. That of course led to more beatings."

She sighed, approaching the end of her tale. "Soon the winter came. With it came the cops and they took everyone way. That Man came back again when I was at the hospital and brought several people with Him. And He told me that those would be watching over me from then on. His Commander came the following day and he promised me that they would hide me so the Master would never find me again."

"So this... experience... kind of molded who you are today. And we saw in that room with Swanson..." Rossi said, waiting for Joy to complete his thought.

"Two opposite forces in a battle not meant for human eyes." Joy said slowly, seeing the effect of her words on the older agents.

Hotch asked, "So all that kicking and spitting..."

"Yeah... it was for real."

"And you could..."

"See it? Yeah." Joy smirked lightly.

"Why haven't you ever said anything?" Gibbs asked, just to receive a tiny smile from Joy.

She scratched her chin, looking at Gibbs with narrowed eyes. "Boss, the FBI frowns to the idea of psychics in their ranks. And as this knowledge is not meant for human minds... most people tend to lose their grasp of reality after a few months of exposure. I served as Servant to Swanson for _years_. For all accounts, I should have been institutionalized but… I wasn't because the Lord and his army ran interference on my behalf. And when it was time, they've ensured that I would be found by a family who would embrace me and heal me in a way that I needed to be healed."

"And that explains how you arrived in Glasgow." Joy looked at McGee who had a soft smile on his face as he looked down at her, "They took you there."

Hotch asked. "And how did Gideon figure out you could see these beings?"

"He saw them when he met me. They showed themselves to him during his first visit to Glasgow."

That came as news for Hotch, who wondered how well he really knew the old profiler, and what other secrets he had hid from him. "He had never said anything."

"Who would believe him? You?"

Hotch chuckled lightly, knowing he would have been the first to question the sanity of his former supervisor.

"So these _creatures _…"

"Angels."

"These _angels _…" Gibbs said the word almost grimacing, unwilling to admit that he was even considering that story as real, "They were around when you were a kid."

Joy smiled lightly, looking around the interior of airplane before her gaze landed on McGee, who was smiling lightly at something just beyond her shoulder. He lowered his gaze to her eyes and nodded, _sure why not_.

"Boss," Joy leaned and took Gibbs' hands in hers, squeezing his bigger fingers for a moment and saying a quick prayer for guidance. Finally she lifted her eyes to his face, whispering softly.

_"They've never left." _

Gibbs lifted his eyes from their joined hands to her face, frowning as she leaned back to sit on the sofa between McGee and a very muscular man in a bright yellow jumper and blue jeans, his very polished cowboy boots sticking out in front of his legs.

_What the... Who was that guy? Where did he come from?_

"Hi, Gibbs, how is it going?" Guilo asked, his perfect white teeth shining in a big smile, grinning at the mute struck agents who were staring at him with surprise.


	52. A Celestial meeting

**_Chapter 52: A Celestial meeting_**

Hotch and Rossi gaped at the person sitting beside the McGees, comfortably leaning against the cushions and grinning as if he had just heard a great joke. The couple simply smiled at the wonder-filled eyes of the senior agents, glad that they could share this little bit of heaven with them.

"You really should train your grand entrances, Guilo. You are slipping." Joy grin was infectious.

The warrior shrugged, wiggling his thick eyebrows to her. "Come on, Tal ordered me to be less...uhm… dramatic. I'm improving, okay?"

Both McGee and Joy chuckled at that, while the older agents were still in a mild state of shock.

"I've seen you before." Gibbs narrowed his eyes to slits as he studied the angel before him. "You were one of the four guards in the room during Swanson's interrogation."

That info made Rossi and Hotch look surprised at Gibbs. "No, he wasn't." Hotch said.

Gibbs glared at Hotch. "He was there. He and a tall blond guard, all muscles. They escorted Buchanan in there."

Rossi and Hotch exchanged surprised glances, before turning to Gibbs. Hotch then said in a very low voice, as if talking to a child. "Joy came into the interrogation room alone . There were only two guards, and they spent most of the time holding Swanson back."

"But…" Gibbs looked again at the angel, who wiggled his eyebrows to him without losing his smirk. "You…"

"Welcome to my world, Boss." Joy muttered, receiving an elbow jab in her middle from Guilo. She slapped his arm lightly, receiving a pout from him. She just rolled her eyes good-naturally at him.

"You... are all seeing him... this..." Rossi pointed to Guilo whose grin just became bigger and bigger as the old Fed tried to find a word to define what he was seeing right before him.

"Angel. Vision. I personally prefer _Warrior_. It is classy and very masculine."

Gibbs couldn't help grinning at the Angel's attitude which for some reason reminded him of DiNozzo. He looked at McGee and saw no surprise in the younger man's eyes.

"You _knew_ about that." Gibbs said accusingly.

McGee shrugged. "I've seen them occasionally. It actually explains a lot of what happens in our work, when it happens and how. Once you are given a glimpse of their world, you look at our job in a different way."

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked surprised at the calm acceptance in McGee's attitude of something that should have freaked him out.

McGee glanced at Guilo who was playing with a silver coin in his hand, slipping it through his fingers. He gently took Joy's hands between his bigger ones, distractedly caressing her palm with his fingers.

"When I've first met Joy, she described what she did as _hunting__ monsters_. As profilers, you go where no other human being can go - the minds of deranged killers - and you do your best to rescue their victims of the very grasp of certain death."

Rossi shrugged, rolling the idea in his mind and seeing it had merit. "That's a way to interpret it."

"In a way, in a very broad sense, you _are_ doing God's work. You are using your God-given talent to ensure that people in danger might be saved. You are going where no church can go, reaching people no preacher can ever reach. These monsters - _unsubs_ - are the epitome of everything that goes against God's creation and that's why God chose you..." He looked at Hotch, Rossi, Gibbs and finally his gaze landed on Joy, "... chose us, to do his binding. In a very specific way, of course."

"That's a... very interesting interpretation of things." Rossi said, looking at Guilo. "But how does that explains _him_ here, and his involvement with Joy's past."

Guilo dropped the coin, letting it roll on the floor. He ignored it and leaned eagerly towards the older profiler.

"We dwell in the mortal world doing God's work. But once in a while we are given clearance to interact with those under our protection. Most of the times these contacts remain undetected; like my little role in the interrogation room that Gibbs has just seen. But once in a while we interact directly with people and, once the neural pathways are connected enabling someone to see us, it's not easy to turn it off. It's not a switch which you click on/off as you wish. What you can do is slowly wean the person away of our constant interference. But Joy's case was a bit extreme. She basically interacted solely with us - us in a very broad sense, the immaterial world - for years. We were more real to her that the corporeal world for a while so we lingered until she was adapted to live among humans again and only then we took a step back."

"But you have never really left." Rossi muttered.

"Nope."

"And once she was adopted by the Buchanans..." Hotch paused waiting for the warrior in front of him to elaborate more.

"There was no need to be always visible to her. She was aware of our presence most of the time. But as her wounds - both physical as well as emotional - healed, those memories slowly faded away as she was finally interacting with real people. No need for us to butt in her life anymore."

Rossi asked, "Where does that leave us now? How does that change things?"

Guilo bit his lip, looking chagrined at Joy. "We're fighting to figure out where the leak is. Somehow they are getting information right from the source, but we haven't been able to figure out the exact point which they have blindsided us. The Master has created a great army and he has gathered followers again, so what we have to do now is find them."

"Them? Are you suggesting there is more than one _unsub_?" Rossi asked, receiving a grim look from Guilo, quite different from his previously always grinning smile.

"Misery and Destruction just love company. And wherever they go, they bring a bunch of their little buddies for the party."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They kept talking for a few more minutes before Guilo leaned his head to the side, as if hearing a voice only he could hear. He looked apologetically at Joy, who smiled at her old friend.

"Go."

He grinned and simply disappeared, as if he had never been there. Gibbs breathed deeply and moved his hand finding nothing but air where the Angel had been before.

He finally turned to Joy and Timothy, who were silently smiling at him, "I should headslap both of you."

She turned and rested her face against McGee's chest, getting comfortable against his side. "He's acting like that after meeting only one of them. Imagine if he were to meet the rest."

McGee grinned at Gibbs, leaning back on the sofa as Joy immediately started snoring. "He would totally freak out."


	53. Threats unveiled

_**a/n: Folks, it will be hard and fast downhill from here. Fasten your seatbelts and use the puke bags which can be found under your seat. kkkk  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 53: Threats unveiled<strong>_

Joy slept the rest of the flight, being awoken by McGee just after the jet had taxied to a stop on the tarmac before they could join the agents on their trip back to Quantico.

Once they got there they found both teams working full steam on the old files, cross-referencing names of those found in the compound with those relocated by Witness Protection. After a lot of shouting and poking, their files had finally been made accessible to them once BAU informed the Big Bosses in the Marble Halls of Hell of the top floor that people in the Witness Protection program were systematically being killed despite all their safeguards to avoid specifically that.

No stone was left unturned; agents throughout the country went to their charges and had them immediately removed from their current sites, relocating them to safer locations until further notice.

Ziva approached Gibbs as soon as they entered the BAU bullpen and gave him the bad news they've unveiled that afternoon. "According to the list of people relocated by the FBI during that raid, we're still missing six of them."

Gibbs asked. "Any idea of what happened to them?"

"Two are dead." Tony shouted from across the room where he was perched on Prentiss's table, who passed him a folder to give to Gibbs. He jumped from his position at the table and approached the old marine, who immediately checked the info in the files handed to him.

"Their bodies had been sent as john does to a morgue in St. Louis three weeks ago. Their positive identification took a while because their faces had been smashed too badly for visual recognition and… no one came to claim the body." Prentiss said, noticing how Gibbs studied the pictures without flinching while Joy immediately blanched and took a step back, before hightailing and running to the ladies' bathroom at the end of the corridor.

"Is she okay?" Reid asked, standing up and going to Hotch's side, who received the new pictures with a frown, concerned about the weak stomach of young profiler, but trying to dismiss it in his head as only an aftereffect of her currently unsettled health.

"She'll be once we find whoever is doing this. Let's gather everyone, we'll go through what we know."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They ended up staying the whole night and the beginning of the following morning checking the files, carefully packed and kept by Agent Lindenberg, who had given them his own personal notes to go through and crosscheck with the edited ones at the FBI archives.

Chinese food was bought and eaten that night. Finally pastries and coffee were handed out as the firs light of day came. Abby and Garcia brought them and force-fed the agents who still had their heads buried in twenty year old files trying to figure out what they were missing.

"It doesn't make sense." Reid finally said, stretching his arms above his head to undo a muscle clenching in his back, result of hours hunched over files during their long vigil at the office.

"Why do you say that?" Gibbs asked before sipping his black coffee, seeing the coordinated mess of files between NCIS and FBI agents over the round conference table.

"These people were killed _**despite **_being put into witness protection. Only someone with deep access to the system could have systematically tracked them down and killed them." Reid said, tapping his pen nervously in the table. The noise was deeply irritating to Tony who, after a while, grabbed the pen and threw it in the garbage bin finally putting an end to that torture.

Reid looked pouting at him, just to gulp when Ziva narrowed her eyes to slits and took a paper clip from the table, slowly opening it with her delicate fingers. Aware of her reputation, Reid slowly slid down on his chair, his eyes fixed on the deadly weapon on the Mossad agent's hands.

"Are you suggesting that someone from the system is involved with Zenith acting as an informer?" Hotch ignored the byplay of his agents, turning to Rossi who had tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling deep in thought.

"Maybe not as an informer. But probably as a conduit for the information to reach the right person." Rossi muttered, just to receive a nod from Hotch.

"Garcia, can we track down everyone who had access to the files of those in the Witness Protection program and check if there are any names overlapping." The team leader asked, being promptly obeyed by the colorful tech.

"I'm checking it as we speak," Garcia kept typing, waiting for her babies to give her answers.

"Maybe Reid is onto something here." Joy leaned on the table, grabbing another file on one of the piles and heartlessly going through it. "These people were found and killed because they were in the system. But he had no idea of where I might be. He had to look for me."

Reid sat straighter, "Because you were never in it."

"Yes. Lindenberg edited the paperwork in order to keep my existence a secret. When the time came to move me from a temporary house to a more permanent one, under the supervision of an agent, I was gone. I was never put into Witness Protection because I ran away only to reappear several months later in Montana." She was slowly getting wired by the idea, so she spoke enthusiastically. "And, as Lindenberg had kept all mentions of my existence out of the FBI files and from the Foster Care system, when the Buchanans sought out information on me there was none to be found. My adoption wasn't done through the normal channels because the Air Force handled all the paperwork and buried it never to be found again."

Derek nodded silently, agreeing with the assessment.

"That's the trigger for his killing spree. The unsub couldn't find you in the database he somehow had available for him and he decided to systematically kill everyone remotely connected to Zenith in order to flush you out." Prentiss' affirmation brought nods from the other profilers.

"But how could have they figured out who you were? They had to know for sure that this strategy would work." Tony closed his folder and put it away, noticing the serious glances exchanged between Gibbs and Hotch.

Finally the BAU leader stood up, leaving the conference table and going to a corner close to the window, his forehead in a deep frown. After a few moments alone, he turned to the agents at the table, both FBI and NCIS, and announced his idea.

"We're missing something."

Gibbs concurred, folding his arms and staring at Hotch who was deeply in thought.

"I agree. Due to the very nature of Maggie's work, all adoptions done by the Buchanans were handled as if they were state secrets. She told me when we've first met that all related papers had been buried by the Project she was working for. Only someone with a very deep access into the Pentagon could have had access to the family files."

McGee shook his head, aware of how ruthless the family was to protect their own. "That's impossible; such a breach would have been found and terminated a long time ago as soon as the suspicion was raised."

"That's not the only way." Rossi said, leaning back on his chair, scratching his goatee with narrowed eyes, his mind juggling ideas and finding clues where there were none before.

"That's the only way someone could have accessed the paperwork on this. I was a Jane Doe until the Buchanans gave me a name. There was no way someone could have connected that street child in Glasgow to the Servant from the Zenith's compound." Joy insisted, not seeing another possible way for the leak to occur.

"There is another way." Rossi insisted.

"How?"

"Through direct contact with your family." Reid said, sitting straighter as his mind worked that premise, his eyes becoming huge as he considered that possibility. He gaped at Hotch and Rossi, who silently nodded agreeing with his theory.

"Someone in your family told the _unsub_ you were an adopted child. He was already searching for you and all he had to do was check the dates, see your picture from that period. Try to match you with the child at Zenith. He had you as his target as easily as that." Morgan snapped his fingers, knowing that they were onto something.

"You or someone of your family personally knows our _unsub_." Hotch solemnly said, watching worriedly as Joy immediately went pale as she considered the consequences of that fact.

McGee couldn't keep the horror from creeping into in his voice as he wrapped his mind over that possibility. "But… but that puts all of us in danger."

Panic finally spurred all agents to the nearest phones as they tried to contact the various members of the Buchanan and McGee family, eager to check their whereabouts and ensure their safety.

They were just praying to be on time.


	54. Divine Intervention

_**Chapter 54: Divine Intervention**_

_**Priscilla Buchanan's Primary School  
><strong>__**Norfolk, Virginia  
>01:16 pm<strong>_

The joyful sound of children running and playing tag filled the air, some were playing in the sandboxes and others were quietly sitting on a circle under some trees, talking about this and that.

Little Priscilla Buchanan, Sergeant John Buchanan's youngest child, was running in the playground of her school, screaming delighted as her school friend tried to catch her in the tag game. She was just waiting for lunch break to be over so she could get back into her class.

While the children played noisily in the playground, a Suburban with tinted windows stopped outside the school and three men in jeans and black t-shirts came out of it, slowly approaching the fence which separated the children from the street.

Completely unaware of the danger she was in, Priscilla squealed as her best friend tapped her shoulder. She immediately ran after another child as it was now her turn in the game, but before she could reach her she tripped and fell to the floor, scratching her knee on the rough asphalt of the playground.

"Here, let me help you." A soft voice echoed over her head, and Priscilla barely had time to look up before she was taken in very strong arms, which promptly held her against a muscular chest. Whoever was the owner of that voice started to walk in hurried steps towards the school doors.

She whimpered in pain and looked up, finding a handsome face looking at her with concern in deep blue eyes, framed by shoulder length hair and a patrician nose and chin. His gaze was filled with worry at the same time his arms held her with deep care.

"I hurted my knee." She muttered and hugged the man with tiny arms around his neck, feeling safe in his arms as he entered the school and led her to the infirmary.

"Don't worry," said Commander Tal, his sharp eyes observing the movement of the forces outside the school and the three men looking for the little girl hidden in his arms, invisible to their sight. "I'll look after you. No one will hurt you, Priscilla."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

_**In another part of Norfolk  
>01:45 pm<strong>_

Jake was listening to his headphones which were blasting the demo audio he had recorded with his garage band two weeks before, happy at how the final recording sounded.

He walked down the road and stopped at a crosswalk, waiting for the pedestrian light to become green so he was barely paying attention to the two tall men who stood by his left and right side, both with broad shoulders and built very similar to football players.

Jake was bobbing his head and caught only a glimpse of a black Suburban driving down the road, finally parking two blocks down from where he was standing. The lights became green and he was about to step away from the curb when a voice in his head told him to check where his wallet was. He froze on the spot, his hand immediately going to the back pocket of his jeans, grimacing once he found it empty.

He mentally berated himself as he remembered using it to buy his sandwich in the coffee shop he had just left, so instead of going down the road towards the spot where the Suburban was, he turned around and went back the way he came rom, towards the coffee shop and hoping to find his wallet still somewhere close to the counter.

He in no moment paid attention to the two men in jeans leaving the Suburban and going up the road towards him.

Entering the coffee shop, Jake went straight to the counter, smiling at the pretty blondie who was checking the credit cards receipts. He took his headphones off and smiled chagrined at her.

The two men who had been escorting him stood by the door, observing the street and the imminent arrival of the two men from the Suburban.

"Hi, this is a little bit embarrassing... but I think I've forgotten my wallet here."

The blondie giggled at his cute pouting face, went down the counter and when she resurfaced she offered him his wallet with a smile.

"You should pay more attention to your things, sweetie. Bad things might happen." She said in a teasing tone of voice, her eyes studying the cute boy in front of her and wishing he was older… or maybe that she was younger.

"I know." Jake said blushing deeply at the attention the college student was giving him, "That's what my aunties always say to me."

His cell phone chirped and without taking his eyes from the girl he hit the screen, answering it immediately as he looked lovestruck to the young college student in front of him, "Jake Buchanan."

"Jake, where are you?" Faith Buchanan asked, in her most authoritarian voice.

"Ah... aunt Faith? I'm... home." He said slowly, not sure what he was supposed to say.

"No, you're not. I've just spoken to your mom, she was picked up with Priscilla and you're not with them. So I'll ask again. Where are you?"

"Coffee shop five blocks away. Why?" Now that was sounding a little bit surreal. _What was going on?_

"The one just five minutes away from your place?"

Jake was starting to get worried. "Yeah. Why?"

"Stay right where you are, talk to the manager you need to stay behind the counter with his employees and under no circumstance get out of the shop until some Marines from the local NCIS office arrive to pick you up, okay?"

"Okay. But what's going on?" He looked around and finally saw the two men in black t-shirts entering the shop. He narrowed his eyes as he recognized them as the people from the Suburban. He noticed how they looked at each one of the customers, studying their features as if looking for someone.

"We're under attack, dear. So get to safety and hide until we get to you, okay?"

The two men finally looked towards where Jake had been but all they found was just a beautiful blond college girl working on the cashier counter, slowly going through the credit cards slips.

They looked at each other and frowned, approaching the cashier slowly until they were standing in front of her.

She airily made a note on her notebook before looking at them with a bubbly smile.

"How can I help you?"

"There was a boy, fifteen to seventeen years old, he just entered this shop. Where is he?"

"A boy?" She touched her full lower lip with her pen, thinking hard, "I don't know, I see boys the whole day. Can you describe him for me?" She asked distractedly.

They shrugged and waved their hands on the air, trying to show their point. "This tall, red brownish hair and freckles, hazel eyes and... ahh.. jeans and a shirt."

The girl giggled airily, leaning over the counter and letting them have a great view of her cleaverage in heir waitress uniform, "You have to do better than that. You have described approximately eighty percent of my clients."

While she flirted and profoundly misled the two men, she took one of her shoes off and gently ran her foot on Jake's arm. The boy was folded all over himself under the cashier counter with closed eyes and holding his cellphone in a tight grip in his hands.


	55. The Master claims the youngest

_**Chapter 55: The Master claims the youngest**_

_**BAU headquarters  
>Quantico, Virginia<br>02:40 pm**_

"Faith, your kids?" Joy asked as she spoke on the phone with her sister, glancing at McGee who was talking with Joseph on the other line across the bullpen at Quantico. All agents were tracking down the members of the Buchanan family, organizing guards to pick them up wherever they might be.

_"Daniel stays in the FBI kindergarten here with me. Only a terrorist attack would venture that far into the Hoover. I've spoken to Stephy's school, she was in her Lit class and she will be directed to the dean's office until two of my team pick her up in twenty minutes. Wilson has already checked in and I've sent someone to Georgetown to guard my husband."_

McGee put a hand over the his phone and said to Joy. "Your dad is saying that there's no need to send any reinforcements to the house, as Mark is staying over for a week and they also have the live-in nurse, who has attended personal defense classes previously, with them."

Joy sighed as she considered the info. "Either way, tell him to keep his eyes open for anything out of ordinary." McGee nodded and went back to his phone call, staying on the line for a while with his father-in-law before calling the next on the line.

"Has anyone contacted Grace?" Joy asked around, finding Morgan nodding from his desk, cradling a phone against his ear.

"Just spoken to her. Her husband and child are both in the safety of the FBI building in Utah." He informed her, before going back to his phone call.

Joy turned her attention again to her conversation with Faith. "Okay, keep calling everyone and keep me posted. Have you heard from Luke and Johnny? I can't get through them. I keep being told by their CO that that they are on a mission. The marines in Norfolk already have Lisa, Priscilla and Jake under custody. Jake mentioned something of a close call."

Faith sat back on her chair back in the Hoover Building. _"Apparently some bad guys came looking for him, but I had just warned him of danger so he was able to hide."_

"Thank God. Give Temp a call. Her phone is only running into voicemail. What about Hope?"

Faith grinned lightly, _"Kiddo, she is safe. She is safer than all of us put together. She's unavailable right now but as soon as she can she will call us."_

After a few pleasantries Joy disconnected just as McGee was able to speak to his own side of the family. "Matthew, this is McGee."

"Hey, man. How is it going?"

"Have you spoken to Sarah today?"

Matt looked around the engineering office where he had just started working, grabbed a chair and started scribbling some equations for the project he was working at. "Only before coming to work. She had a dentist appointment at lunch time so she couldn't meet me as usual. We were going out after work. What's up?"

McGee ran a shaking hand through his hair, feeling his head aching something fierce after a long sleepless night. "I'm trying to reach her on her cell. She's not answering. Do you have the address of that dentist?"

Matt went to his iPad looked the address up, muttering it so McGee could write it down. "Here it is. What's going on?"

"I'll keep you posted. Listen, don't leave the office, okay? We're sending some agents to pick you up to bring you to NCIS office a.s.a.p. Once you arrive there we'll have someone waiting to debrief you."

His brother-in-law's tone of voice was enough to bring awareness tingling through Matt's spine. Something was wrong. Very wrong. "Timothy, what the hell is going on?"

McGee sighed tiredly, unsure of how much he could disclose on a phone call. "We don't know yet. Keep ringing Sarah and as soon as you reach her, tell her to call me."

He put the phone down, looking worriedly at Gibbs who was walking up and down the conference room like a jailed lion with a very big thorn in its paw.

"Ziva!" Gibbs barked.

"I've put a BOLO on Sarah's car, up until now no hits". Ziva answered immediately looking up from her report.

"Tony!"

Tony jumped and looked at Gibbs. "I've already spoken to Abby, she's running a trace on Sarah's phone."

McGee nodded to Tony and turned to Prentiss. "I need a computer."

Prentiss immediately stood up and gave him her own terminal, letting him do his own magic with the Bureau computers. Meanwhile Garcia was trying to get traffic camera recordings of the men who tried to abduct Jake Buchanan in Norfolk, in the hopes of identifying the perps.

McGee frowned at the computer screen. "I'm also doing a trace on her mobile. Matt's said she is at the dentist. Maybe that's why she's not answering the phone."

"Do you have the number of the dentist's office? We may try the reception." Joy asked and she started dialling as soon as McGee looked it up and told her the number.

_"Hi, this is Joy Buchanan, I'm looking for Sarah McGee. She had an appointment at..."_

McGee wasn't happy with what he found with his trace, "Nothing. Zip. Nada. She must have turned it off for the appointment." He turned to look at Joy who was still talking with the dentist's secretary.

_"Really?"_ Joy looked with terrified eyes at McGee before disconnecting the phone. "Tim, Sarah never made it to her dentist's appointment at one pm."


	56. Family vs Duty

_**Chapter 56: Family vs Duty**_

As soon as he heard the news that his sister was missing, McGee immediately left the room in a hurry. Tony immediately jumped from his seat and ran after him, stopping him before he entered the elevators.

"Where do you think you're going, man?" He grasped McGee's arm and forced him to turn so Tim could look at him. The doors dinged open and McGee put his feet out, keeping them open but Tony kept him rooted to the same spot, blocking his way into the elevator.

"I'm going to look for my sister." McGee growled, feeling his nerves stretched thin. He could feel the anger starting to boil in the pit of his stomach, and he was having visions of Tony flat out on the floor thanks to a well placed punch on his face.

"Tim, look at me."

McGee breathed deeply and with difficulty lifted angry eyes to Tony, who put a hand on his shoulder trying to make his point.

"If this bastard really has her, our best shot is the team of profilers in that room. Crap, give them a chance, because they won't rest until they have her back."

"Yeah, but in what condition?" McGee took a step forward and came face-to-face with Tony, his tortured eyes piercing the older agent. "You've seen the pictures, Tony. That bastard probably has my sister now, hurting her, beating..."

Tony wasn't about to let him fall in that trap. "Stop it! Stop it right now. You can't be of any help if you keep thinking about what _might_ be happening to her. You have to focus and think how to _find_ her. That's what she needs from you now. She needs the _investigator_ to figure out where this creep is. When we find her, you can go all protective over her, but only _after _you find her, not before." Tony said, seeing how McGee struggled to let his words sink.

McGee closed his eyes for a moment, feeling his whole body shake as the images of the pictures he had seen suddenly changed and he saw his own sister in them, lying in a pile of blood and mangled flesh. Tony squeezed his shoulder, prompting him to open his eyes. After a sigh, McGee let the elevator doors close, meekly following Tony away from the elevator towards the BAU glass doors. Tony kept talking softly to him, trying to make him see what the right choice was at that moment.

"You're not alone in this, man. We have two different teams working on the case, the best agents of two different agencies and we'll get her back."

Once they reached again the bullpen, McGee looked up towards the conference room where he found Joy standing by the glass windows looking at him with terrified eyes, the guilty on her face clearly showing how miserable she felt about this whole situation.

"Crap." McGee muttered.

Tony saw the direction of his gaze and lightly squeezed his shoulder. "And you also have your girl in there, feeling awfully responsible for what is going on. You don't really want your wife thinking that you blame her for this, do you?"

McGee gulped tiredly and glanced at Tony, who slapped him lightly on his shoulder, slowly forcing him to walk back to the BAU conference room. He entered it with heavy steps, aware of the gloomy atmosphere in the place as all agents turned to look at him. His gaze fell on Joy, who was standing by the glass windows hugging herself. She refused to meet his gaze, unwilling to find the recrimination and anger in his green eyes. He sighed tiredly and went to her side, silently gathering her in his arms and hugging her tight. He kissed her curly hair and took a shaky breath when she finally relaxed in his embrace, her arms snaking around his waist as she hid her face on his chest.

McGee lifted tearfilled eyes to Gibbs and Hotch, both senior agents stonefaced before their junior agents.

The agents stayed in silence for a moment, each one of them aware of the struggle the couple was facing to set their worry aside and focus on the case. At that moment Garcia came running from her den and stumbled into the conference room, immediately going for the computer.

"There's an incoming video call from NCIS for you Gibbs." She said as she touched something in her laptop, preparing the plasma for the call.

Hotch glanced to Gibbs, but his question was towards Garcia, "Who is it?"

Garcia checked the info on her gadget, "Ah... a Dr. Mallard?"

Gibbs nodded to Hotch, who gave the order, "Put him through."

There was some frizzle in the plasma before Ducky's image from autopsy appeared on the screen, standing alone in autopsy. Apparently his usual guests had already been put to rest.

"Ducky, what do you have for us?"

Ducky nervously fidgeted with his bow tie, looking nervously at his camera. "Nothing. Actually I fear I seem to be in need of your help."

"Ducks, we're in the middle of a situation right now." Gibbs said, chancing a glance towards the McGee couple silently hugging across the room.

Unfortunately Ducky's next words had the power to bring a chill to Gibbs' heart.

"I see, but so am I. It's just ... Oh... I seem to have misplaced my autopsy assistant."

Everyone in the room turned to look at Ducky's image flickering at the plasma.

"He's never been absent before but he failed to show up at work this morning. And he's not answering his cell phone."


	57. We were wrong

_**a/n: Are you guys having palpitations yet? I'm posting several chapters as I'll be offline during the holiday season and I don't want to leave this baby without its end.**_

_**So fasten your seatbelts, we have a lot of ground to cover yet.**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 57: We were wrong<strong>_

_**BAU headquarters  
>Quantico, Virginia<br>4:49 pm**_

There was a gloomy air over the agents as they gathered again in the conference room two hours later and they watched as Hotch solemnly put three head shots of the three missing members of the NCIS family.

McGee silently sat down beside his wife as Hotch taped Temperance's, Sarah's and Jimmy's picture to the murder board, writing under it basics of where they had been abducted.

As soon as they heard about it, Tony and Ziva had gone to collect the traffic cameras of where Sarah's car had been found abandoned downtown while Prentiss and Morgan went to talk to the last person to speak to Temp before she went missing with Jimmy. Abby was back at the NCIS headquarters working frantically trying to pinpoint their last moments before being abducted through their text messages and phone usage.

"It's not your fault." McGee said as he gently took Joy's hand, feeling it cold between his fingers.

Joy's gaze was fixed on the table, unwilling to meet his eyes. "We should have contacted everyone as soon as we left Detroit."

"There was no way we could know they would attack us like that."

She looked heartbroken to him, seeing his worry and compassion in his eyes.

At that moment Tony and Ziva entered the conference room with some surveillance tapes in plastic bags which they immediately handed to Garcia.

"We've just had a hit on the Bolo on Jimmy's car. Metro Police found it at the curb of Anacostia Freeway. Temp's gun and badge was found under the passenger seat. The keys were on contact, the emergency lights were on but no sign of the two of them." Garcia said as she took the tapes from their hands and looked at Hotch who nodded, silently ordering her to work on the evidence which had just arrived.

He glanced at Gibbs to see his next action with that info as the colorful tech left towards her den.

"Have it towed to the NCIS evidence garage." Gibbs said, observing Joy's shoulder sag as she looked forlornly at the murder board with the three pictures. "It's closer and tell Abby to have it processed ASAP."

"Yes, sir." JJ said, standing up to make the call from her work desk.

Reid saw how distressed Joy was and went to her side, sitting on the chair on her right, opposite to McGee. He chanced a glance to McGee before voicing his ideas. "Joy…"

"He said... that the Master would claim the youngest." Joy said with anger in her voice, finally showing an emotion other than despair. Reid nodded trying to appease her, glad to finally see anger instead of the empty gaze from before.

"He knew where and who to hit. In a single stroke he kidnapped a Buchanan, a McGee and the youngest of the NCIS team. We expected an attack and we at first worried about the children, but we had no reason to expect he would go against fully trained federal agents."

McGee grimaced at Reid, "My sister is not a federal agent, she's a civilian."

"Who happens to live with and is engaged to an ex-Marine." Morgan said as he entered the room and sat in his usual seat. "Either way, she's a high risk victim. She's not defenseless. She would have fought. She wouldn't go quietly under duress."

McGee smiled a little at that, reminded of the fiery temperament of his little sister and how good in fighting back she got once she started taking self-defense classes, Maggie's suggestion after the episode in his house a few years back. "No, she wouldn't."

"Same thing with Temperance. She was armed when she and Jimmy were stopped and taken. She would have reacted if she had any hint to mistrust whoever engaged them." Tony commented as as he sat beside Ziva at the conference table, putting his folders in front of himself and starting to peruse them for information.

Hotch nodded, "We have to review our profile. We had up until now considered only one unsub, acting alone in a random approach, killing the people who were sent into Witness Protection trying to create a new life after leaving Zenith behind. I believe now this assessment is incorrect."

Hotch sighed and looked around the table, seeing the same signs of exhaustion in the eyes of both teams. They had been working for more than twenty four hours nonstop and now they were in a countdown. People they loved dearly were in danger and he was aware none of the agents would agree to stop for a pause. He looked up to Gibbs who was staring at him in silence, measuring the leader of the unit.

"Our profile is wrong."

Those words made everyone look up at him.

"If not wrong, incomplete." Rossi added. "We were trying to identify a single individual with a vendetta against the Servant. But these abductions do not fit the profile."

Hotch concurred with the older man, "These abductions weren't perpetrated by a single individual. They were executed by strike teams in different parts of the city miles apart of each other at the same time. They were organized. They must have stalked their victims and they knew exactly the moment to attack so they would find their targets at their most vulnerable moment."

Morgan spoke just as Prentiss arrived in the room and took her own place on the table. "They took Sarah, Temp and Jimmy from busy streets where such action could have been seen. Their targets were high profile ones; they would have resisted if given the chance."

Prentiss added her two cents. "If we take Swanson's crazy statement out of the picture, and study only the facts at hand…"

Reid started enumerating what they had so far, each agent in the room becoming tenser as the picture became clearer in their mind. "Multiple individuals working towards a single goal; Recklessness and lack of fear of being seen or caught; their actions are carried out in plain daylight; stalking and planning ahead, meticulously acting out their schedule and choosing very specific victims which would certainly catch our attention once their disappearance is found."

"What do you see?" Rossi poked the other profilers, who sighed loudly.

"_Terrorism_." Prentiss was the one who dared to voice out loud everyone's thoughts, making everyone tense as they studied the situation at hand.

"Together with the cult indoctrination of Zenith, we might have a very explosive situation in our hands." Hotch said to Gibbs, who silently asked him why with a lift of an eyebrow.

Hotch then elaborated. "If they are cult members but with a terrorist mentality, their lives are merely tools for their goals. They have no wish of surviving a confrontation with the police, as they are merely cannon fodder. There will be no negotiation, no talking with them. They will be completely brainwashed to sacrifice themselves towards their goal and they will try to take as many as possible to achieve it."

"But what goal would that be?" Ziva asked.

Everyone looked to the Israeli, who shrugged under the scrutinity.

"That's what we have to find out, my dear." Rossi said, gesturing to Reid. "Kid, what are we looking at?"

"We're not looking for only one _unsub_, we're looking for a team." Reid said, going to the murder board and changing the info on it with a marker.

"Seen from this perspective, we have a highly motivated group working independently but towards a single goal, being commanded by a central figure who is calling all the shots." Morgan said playing with this pen. "They must have been stalking their victims to catch Temp, Jimmy and Sarah unaware of the danger."

"Who could that individual be?" Ziva went straight to the heart of the matter, looking at the profilers who looked at her chagrinned, still unsure of what was the right answer. "If we are to pursue this theory, we have different suspects acting in similar M.O.s but there must be someone pulling their strings."

"One of their goals is obviously finding the Servant, which they've made quite clear in their messages on the bodies they've left behind. But if they are really terrorists, they are planning something else. Something bigger. Memorable." Rossi said.

"Now regarding who is that individual pulling the strings, we must go through the people who got arrested or rescued in the Zenith compound and try to pinpoint who would have lost something with Joy being picked as a servant. When we spoke to Swanson he complained that he had gotten prepared to make the sacrifice but in the end Joy was chosen for it. We have to figure out what he was talking about." Hotch said just to receive a sigh from Rossi, who was shaking his head not willing to go that way.

"Yet I think we should focus on a more physical thing. Those threats were the ramblings of a madman. It only has power if you believe in it." Rossi said, but Joy was not easily convinced of that.

She left Reid's and McGee's side and went to Rossi, sitting beside him.

"You really don't get it, do you Rossi. You don't have to believe in evil to feel its presence. To know that it's real. Swanson believed this crap his whole life and he led a whole bunch of people to believe the same crap too. You don't walk out it unscathed."

"Then how do you plan to fight it?"

"We need a break. We need some clue to guide us where to start looking." She sighed and looked at Ziva, who had been checking the evidence of Sarah's kidnapping quietly for a moment. Once she felt's Joy's gaze on herself, she looked up at the other woman.

"I... when we were at Nellis, I've told Jimmy that he was strong. That … if he ever had to go through dark times like I did, through a test of wills like Jarod or Nellis, I've told him that he would be strong enough to fight it. He would survive."

Ziva nodded as she also remembered that heartfelt conversation in the decontamination room after both of them were scrubbed raw to clear up any radioactive particle that might have stayed in their bodies.

"I just pray to God that he remembers my words and fight whatever comes his way... Because I don't want it to be a lie."


	58. Though I walk through the valley

_**Chapter 58: Though I walk through the valley of shadow**_

_**Undisclosed location  
>Somewhere<br>Time unknown**_

Jimmy blinked tiredly his eyes as his awareness of the cold surface he was on slowly seeped through his clothes. He squinted as the darkness didn't dissipate, his nearsighted eyes nervously moving around trying to figure out exactly where he was.

He tried to remember how he got into trouble and all he could remember was picking up Temp early in the morning and driving towards NCIS. The engine of their car started to cough so they had been forced to stop in the shoulder of the road. Just a few minutes went by and an AA truck stopped behind them and two men in jeans came to help them out.

After that, nothing.

A low moan to his left made him lift his head, feeling both his arms and legs firmly bound with zipties.

"Who is there?"

The moan repeated, so he tried crawling closer to the source of the sound. It repeated and he recognized the owner of that voice.

"Sarah, is that you?"

"Stop shouting, Jimmy. I have a headache." Sarah McGee tried to move but found her arms legs in similar situation, also bound.

"What happened?" Sarah lifted her head and looked around, seeing Jimmy just a few feet away from her blinking owlish at her.

Jimmy grimaced as he felt a burning sensation on his side, which might explain a little his tingling feeling all over, "I think I was hit by a tazer charge, losing consciousness shortly after that. Do you have any idea of where Temp is? She was with me and I can't see much without my glasses."

Sarah looked around, finding a small brunette form huddled in the other side of their gray and dark cell.

"She's here, but she's still out."

"Were you able to see your kidnappers? All I remember is being approached by some folks in jeans and then nothing."

Sarah rolled so her back was supported on the floor, her gaze firmly on the ugly gray concrete ceiling. The room was nothing more than a box, with bare concrete walls. A single lightbulb hanging from a wire gave a faint light, doing very little to dispel the darkness they were in.

There was a single door to their right with a square window which let the light of the corridor spill inside of the room, but that was all.

"Where are we?" She voiced the same question which was bouncing in Jimmy's head, but he couldn't figure out why someone would take an interest on him, the autopsy gremlin of NCIS. He was just an assistant, he wasn't an agent. Why someone would kidnap him?

"I don't know. Hey Sarah?" He saw her lifting her head to look at him and he noticed a small trickle of blood coming from a cut on her forehead.

Whoever had kidnapped Sarah hadn't been as gentle with her as they were with him.

"Are you okay?" He couldn't hide his concern, as she looked at him trying hard to hide her fear.

"Ahh... my head hurts a little. Other than that, I'm okay."

"Do you think we could talk to whoever took us? Maybe we could figure out why they had us kidnapped."

"It's worth a try." Sarah said, before bellowing in a loud voice. "Can somebody hear me?"

"Hellooo!" Jimmy shouted, but his voice only echoed in the room and no answer was forthcoming.

They stayed in silence in darkness for god knows how many hours, sometimes shouting in a vain attempt to get someone's attention, but to no avail. Temp woke up and joined them, but it would be several hours yet before they heard the sound of boots in the corridor outside their door.

"Someone is coming." Temp whispered, seconds before the door was abruptly opened and three burly men entered the darkened room.

They were muscular and wore black shirts, black jeans and their faces seemed carved out of stone, no hint of emotion or pity could be seen in those eyes. The first one had short black hair, black beady eyes and a scowl which was so ingrained that the man must have been born with it. The other two had blond long hair which covered their eyes in messy greasy curls, however their mouths had a cruel line, as if they enjoyed seeing pain being inflicted unto others, especially if they were the perpetrators.

Each man grabbed one of the youngsters, dragging them to their feet just as a woman entered their cell, her high heels making an echo in the empty cell. She wore a tight leather corset, which carefully delineated her tiny waist and her almost nonexistent breasts, while her legs were covered in a black shiny material absorbed the light, as if darkness was part of its own raw material.

"Who are you?" Jimmy asked, making the lady's gaze rest on him.

The woman approached him slowly, her hips swinging at each step she took and her cold empty gaze landed on him. She wasn't old, she must have been mid thirties, her long black hair was tied in a ponytail which moved at each step she took, but what really scared Jimmy were her eyes.

She stopped before him, her blue eyes firmly set on his, but Jimmy was unable to find any human sentiment in them. It was like looking into the eyes of one of the corpses on Ducky's tables, completely empty and blank.

"What do you want from us?" He asked again, just to flinch when she struck him with a slap that made his ears ring and his eyes fill with tears.

The girls shouted and tried to go to him, just to be manhandled by the other two gorillas who held them as if they were nothing more than a nuisance.

The woman finally gestured to the man holding Jimmy, who grabbed him by his hair and lifted him, so he could look straight into the lady's eyes. Jimmy gulped as she approached him and grabbed his chin, her long nails digging into his soft flesh.

"_Silence_. Your words are not welcome here."

"Whatever you want, we don't have it." Jimmy dared to speak again, only to receive an eye roll from the woman who took a step back and walked to the door, giving the henchmen space to turn Jimmy around and hit him in the stomach, eliciting wailing cries from the girls who watched helplessly as the man let Jimmy fall to the floor and started kicking him in the soft tissue of his tummy.

The girls fought against their kidnappers, but they couldn't free themselves to reach Jimmy who only moaned under the brutal assault. The woman watched impassively, without showing any remorse or pity.

"Enough, we need them alive. _For now_." The woman's words made the girls look scared at her, which elicited an evil smile from her blood red lips, "Bring them to my chamber. We have much to do."

* * *

><p>An: Ahhh the vilain finally appears! But who the hell is she?


	59. Betrayal at its finest

_**Chapter 59: Betrayal at its finest  
><strong>_

_**BAU headquarters**_

_**Quantico, Virginia  
>5:40 pm<strong>_

"Jimmy's car was tampered with and stopped in the shoulder of the highway. Traffic cameras point out that a tow truck stopped behind Jimmy's car. Two men yet to be identified came out of it and tazered him and Temp while another car, this one a SUV, stopped beside them and two more perps came out and carried them unconscious into it. We ran the license plates of both cars and they were cold, not matching the description of the getaway vehicles." Abby said to the camera, her face appearing gigantic in the plasma of the BAU conference room.

"Sarah?" McGee asked, receiving a concerned glance from Gibbs, but he kept his gaze firmly on the screen.

"They must have taken her directly from the street. There was no forensic evidence in her car - just hers and Matt's fingerprints everywhere I've checked - but we've found her cell phone in a garbage can just across her dentist's address."

"Where's the dentist located?" Rossi asked and Abby blurted the address. He turned to the other screen where the face of their own tech was. "Garcia, isn't there an ATM just on that corner?"

"I'm already pulling the surveillance images, sir." Garcia said, typing ferociously in her babies.

"Let's review what we have so far. Our suspects are a team of highly trained individuals, all receiving their orders from someone who is or was directly connected to the initial Zenith group." Hotch started.

Reid tapped the table nervously with a new pen he had found from somewhere, receiving a glare from Tony who was getting irritated at it. "They act in strike teams, stalking their prey and attacking only when they are separated from the pack."

Prentiss piped in, "They are patient. They enjoy having time to torture and they must have prepared their killing sites previously. They are proactive in their attacks, calculating every single thing in it."

"They attacked Sarah when she was distracted going to the dentist, away from Matt's protection. They tampered with Jimmy's car on the day he was supposed to pick up Temp as her car was being serviced. They've done their homework beforehand." Joy said, receiving a nod from the other profilers.

"But who is calling the shots?" Everyone turned to Gibbs who was standing by the window looking at the agents brainstorming between themselves. "That creep in Detroit might have been spilling mumbo-jumbo but he knows something we don't."

"He hasn't been in touch with anyone outside in five years. Even his lawyer refuses to visit him anymore." Tony said, reading the visitor's log of the prison.

"None of the people arrested in the raid has been released since they've been convicted. It must be someone who is still free." Ziva's words made McGee sit straighter, reaching for one of the folders on the table.

"Then it can only be someone who was under protection." His statement made everyone turn to him, but he ignored them as he scanned the list of people rescued in the raid. "It must be someone who was put into the Witness Protection program. It would explain their access to the system."

"One of the protégées is a murderer? Wouldn't the Marshall Service be more selective about something like that?" Tony asked, but he received headshakes from Rossi and Hotch.

"Sometimes even contract killers are taken into protection depending on how valuable their testimony is for the DA." Hotch said, remembering one of their cases where a mob killer was put into protection detail with his daughter, and they were called in to solve her kidnapping.

"We've gone through these lists countless times. Of the people in the compound at the time of the raid, seventeen were put into Witness Protection in exchange of their testimony. Five of them were minors between ten and seventeen." Reid said looking in their files.

"Four of the adults died of natural causes. Diabetes, heart attack and two strokes. Five were contacted and were relocated by their case workers as we speak. Then we have our six dead bodies." Morgan said.

Gibbs said, "That's fifteen. Who are we missing?"

McGee checked the last file in his hand, finding the info Gibbs wanted, "Martha Sinclair, 23, was put into the system with her daughter, a little girl named Mara, age 10."

JJ asked, who had been silent up until then, "Who was she?"

McGee frowned at what he was reading in the files, "She was one of the perp's concubines and apparently..." He looked up from the file, his gaze resting on Gibbs and Hotch, "...the child was Swanson's."

"Where are they now?" Gibbs asked, receiving a nod from Abby who promptly typed something and read the info in her own screen in the lab back in NCIS.

"Their case worker was murdered in a robbery attempt five years ago, since them they've been off the grid. She had already changed her identity at least three times before that, so I think it's safe to assume she has changed her name again before going underground." Abby said before fixing her green eyes in the screen again.

Reid asked. "What does she do for a living?"

It was Garcia's turn to answer then, "Martha went to nursing school and graduated in only two years, working in the area since then. She was working at a nursing home in Delaware before falling off the grid."

"What about the daughter?" Ziva asked, "She must be an adult now."

Abby frowned at what was in her screen, muttering her findings to the agents in the BAU office, "The daughter got a BA in Social Work from a community college. She was working in the same nursing home her mother did until both disappeared."

"Social work..." Morgan sat straighter in his chair, "Wouldn't that grant her access to federal files?"

Everyone became mute after that, the silence so heavy that one could hear a fly buzzing in the room.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Prentiss was the first one to break the silence.

"As a Social worker she would have access to sealed adoption records." Reid excitedly said.

"She wouldn't necessarily have access to the Witness Protection files." Rossi shook his head, disagreeing, just to be interrupted by McGee.

"She doesn't _have_ to. All she needed was access to the database. All Federal info is kept in the same dedicated servers, once she accessed to check the records at her disposal, all she would need is a good hacker to track down the others."

Gibbs' face closed down into a scowl. "Is that easy?"

"It's not that easy, but it's _feasible_, Boss. All she needs is access to a database and let a good hacker in with her own password... she would have access to everything. And I do mean _everything_."

Hotch sighed heavily, "Do we have an address for any of them?"

"I'm sorry, Hotch. They've been underground for the last five years. No credit cards, no bank accounts, no nothing." Garcia said, forlornly glaring at her babies.

Reid asked, "What were their names before they've disappeared?"

Abby found the answer before Garcia, "Evelyn Simmons and Mira Striker."

It was Joy's turn to frown. Gibbs saw her expression change and latched on it. "Buchanan?"

His tone demanded an answer, but her gaze was glassy as she checked her mind where she had heard that name before.

"Evelyn?" She muttered, trying to figure out why it sounded so familiar to her ears.

"Evelyn Simmons." Garcia repeated.

Joy leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes, flipping a mental album of people in her head, trying to fit the name to a person.

"Do you know someone with that name?" McGee asked, but Joy shook her head too busy to answer.

_Evelyn... Evelyn... Evie..._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"_No. You're temporarily feeling better. And Timothy told me to babysit you today."_

"_I'm fine now."_

"_You still look like crap. Maybe you should stay over or I'll be forced to call mom's full time nurse."_

"_Who?"_

"_Eva Swan, mom's new nurse."_

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"_Eva_." Joy said, opening her eyes and staring ahead, her unfocused gaze as she shivered trying to control her panic.

She finally looked terrified to Gibbs before grabbing the telephone in the middle of table.

"Who?" Reid squealed, while Tony and Ziva looked confused at each other as Joy started to dial her home number in Glasgow.

"We've gotta call Dad. Call the sheriff in Glasgow and send someone to my parent's home now!" She said to McGee, who immediately got his cell out and started another call the sherriff's office.

"What is going on?" Gibbs asked, receiving a terrified look from Joy who held the receiver in a tight grip.

"Boss, _Eva Swan_ is the name of my mom's new nurse. Evelyn... _Eva_... Swanson... _Swan_. She was there the whole time. She was mocking us and we had no idea. _She's with my parents now!"_

* * *

><p><em><strong>am I have no idea how the Federal files are stored in the Federal servers, so please remember this is a work of fiction, with no relation to reality.**_

_On another note, NOOOOO MAGGIEEE AND JOSEPH ARE IN DANGER!_

_To all those who saw something fishy about that new nurse... you were so right.  
><em>


	60. Blood Sacrifice

_**Chapter 60: Blood Sacrifice**_

_**Buchanans' home  
>Glasgow, Montana<br>6:02 pm**_

_"You've reached the Buchanan household. We're not available right now but leave a message after the tone and we will return it as soon as we can. Beeep."_

_"Dad? Are you there? Please pick up the phone."_

Eva Swan_ a.k.a _Martha stepped over Joseph's fallen body in the middle of the living room and slowly approached the stairs leading to the bedrooms upstairs. She cleaned the bloody knife on the white pants of her nurse uniform and slowly climbed the stairs, one of her hands softly gliding over the balauster. She smiled at the the fear in Joy's voice, ignoring it as she reached the upper floor and started walking with sure steps towards the room where her next victim was.

_"Dad, please! I need to talk to you!"_

She opened the door and smiled at the old lady in the hospital bed, her chest going up and down with each breath she took. A myriad of hospital machines were beeping, measuring pressure, heartbeats and such.

The fragile looking woman turned to the door and smiled to her as the nurse entered the room, closing the door behind herself.

"Hello, Maggie." Martha/Eva said, approaching the bedside with the knife in the pocket of her uniform.

"Hi, Eva." Maggie said, completely unaware of the intentions of her nurse, "Who was on the phone?"

Martha/Eva pretended to check the numbers in the machine, barely glancing at Maggie. "Wrong number."

"Beautiful day today, isn't it?" Maggie said as she looked longingly out the window where the last rays of summer sun shone into the room. "The sun is a blessing at this time of the year."

Martha/Eva stopped checking the machines and stood beside the bed, looking down at Maggie with a faint smile on her lips. "Pity you won't live to see tomorrow."

Maggie frowned at that, looking at Martha/Eva confused. "What are you talking about?"

The nurse's face took a darker turn, her gray eyes becoming hard stones as she stared at her next victim. "It is time to pay your dues. To finish what's been started so long ago."

Maggie fidgeted in the bed, staring at her nurse confused. "Eva, I don't know what you are talking about."

Martha/Eva took a small flask from her pocket and slowly started to prepare an injection under the horrified gaze of the old lady in the bed.

"You know, it was very clever of _them_ hiding her here. _We_ couldn't see her, despite the fact that there were times we were this close..." She showed her fingers just an inch apart of the other, "...to finding her. _We_ could scent her blood, but soon she disappeared from _our_ radar."

Maggie gulped, seeing the nurse emptying the air of the needle and getting close to her IV.

"Eva?" Maggie's voice shook as she watched the blank look in the nurse's eyes as she pricked the IV bag and injected the substance in the liquid going directly into Maggie's veins.

"It is time to finish this."

"Finish what?"

"The Master needs a blood sacrifice. And I've chosen you and your husband as offering."

"My... what have you done? Where is Joseph?" Maggie's voice took a desperate tone, looking horrified at the IV bag then at the nurse.

"He's dead. As you soon will be."

"NO." Maggie's voice was filled with pain as she shouted her anguish.

Martha/Eva just smiled and finished her job, checking the IV bag to be sure there was no obstruction to the flow of the liquid. "I would prefer to see you in great pain, but it is better if people think you died due to natural causes. Don't worry, this will just slow down your heartbeat until it finally stops... and you are no more."

"Why are you doing this?" Maggie's voice shook with terror, as she looked at the crazy woman beside her bed.

She gulped as Martha/Eva looked at her with disdain, her voice dripping with venom. "Because she belonged to _us_. Nobody escapes the Master. Either you serve him or you die."

"This is insane." Maggie shook her head, looking scared at the woman.

"Good bye Maggie."

"Good bye Eva."


	61. Is this Maggie's end?

_**Chapter 61: Is this Maggie's end?**_

A shot rang in the air echoing loudly in the bedroom. Martha/Eva touched her chest, surprised to find a bullet hole in there. She dropped the needle with the poison onto the floor and stared at Maggie, noticing a black hole in the duvet covering the old lady in bed.

"_Nobody. Hurts. My. Family."_ Maggie growled as dropped the damsel-in-distress act and looked with anger at the nurse, pulling the trigger again and again, hitting Martha/Eva three more times on her chest.

Martha/Eva fell violently to the floor, the blood spattering all over the floor and wall behind her.

Maggie threw the blankets aside, her grip firm on the .38 her son Mark had given her that morning even before McGee's phone call after lunchtime. She pushed aside the IV tube she had disconnected from her vein as soon as the psychotic Martha/Eva had entered the room and slowly crawled out of the bed.

She fell to the floor with a thud, grimacing at the impact against her poor old bones. She crawled towards the prostate woman and climbed over her chest, slapping the needle away from the dead woman's reach. She touched the woman's face with her gun, gasping with the effort but glad to see the empty shine in her eyes.

Finally she left the woman's side and started crawling towards the door.

She had to find Joseph.

She had to find help.

She moved with difficulty, feeling every one of her years weighting down on her body. Finally she reached the top of the stairs but her strength failed. She couldn't go any further, and there was no way she could crawl down the stairs on her own steam.

_"JOSEPH!"_

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Two police cars rushed through the calm streets of Glasgow towards the Buchanans' residence, screeching to a halt on the pebbles of the front yard. Mark and his buddy, Glasgow's Sheriff Ray, rushed out of their cars and ran to the main door, guns in hand, soon followed by two other deputies who went to check the perimeter around the house for any unseen danger.

Mark had a license to carry a concealed weapon while off duty. He was also listed as assistant deputy of the city and he was talking with his buddy when McGee's desperate phone call reached Glasgow's PD.

His initial reassurance to McGee that his parents weren't alone turned into horror when the depth of the betrayal unveiled before his eyes.

"But they're not alone, Tim. Mom's nurse is with them."

"Mark, the nurse **_is_ **the killer. Go! Go!"

Their knocking got no response, so Ray gestured to Mark that they would take down the door. With a powerful kick, the old fir door clashed open, its lock unable to resist such brutal assault and both Mark and Ray entered the living room, their eyes alert to any sign of danger.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

They took two more steps and found something that brought a chill to their spine, as the image was incongruent with the colorful throw blankets on the sofas and the family photos on the mantel.

"Oh, God, Dad!"

Mark ran to Joseph's side, kneeling beside him and trying to find a pulse on his neck. He saw a bleeding gash on his back so he put his open hands on top, putting pressure to stop the live-giving blood from escaping the wound.

"He's alive! I need a medic here!" He shouted to the sheriff, who rushed to his side and substituted Mark's hands over the knife wound on Joseph's back, which was slowly bleeding on the carpet of the living room. One of the deputies entered the house, immediately contacting the PD and ordering an ambulance to come to the house.

While the sheriff started giving first aid, the other deputy went to the other rooms clearing them of any intruder; in the other hand, Mark stood up and, gun in hand, slowly turned and went up to the stairs, alert to any danger ahead.

He gulped and slowly climbed the steps of his childhood home, aware of the metallic scent of blood in the air. He could hear a door slamming closed in the upper floor. He took a deep breath and turned the corner of the stairs, just to find himself staring at the nozzle of a .38.

He blinked, "Mom?"

"Mark, help Joseph. She's hurt him. Please." Maggie lowered the gun as soon as she saw her middle child staring at her horrified. Her body finally couldn't handle the tension anymore and she started to shudder violently, thanks to the scare she had.

One of her babies was home, no need to be alert anymore.

"Mom? What happened to you?" He rushed to her side, turning her gently on the ground and seeing that she was bleeding from the place where her IV line had been ripped from her skin and she was bruised all over, but there were no stab wounds anywhere to be seen, thank God.

"She was evil, Mark. I had to." Maggie said in a quivering voice, handing him the smoking gun and crawling to his lap.

Mark hugged her against his chest, breathing heavily as he shook with relief of finding his mom alive and well. One of the deputies climbed the stairs towards them and Mark signalled him to take over, so he could stand up and clear the other rooms.

"Okay, stay here." He kissed her gently on her white head and transferred her to the arms of the deputy who after some juggling had a good grasp of the fragile woman so he could carry her downstairs.

Mark wrapped her with his own jacket around her fragile frame and sighed as he observed the deputy carrying her away. He turned to the corridor leading to the bedrooms and, with his finger in the trigger of his personal Glock, walked along the corridor, checking each bedroom until he reached his parents'.

However, the scene he found once he pushed open the door was one that would haunt his memories for a long time, but at least was vastly different from what he had expected to find: laying in an irregular pool of blood, the already cooling body of Martha was on the floor, her chest riddled with .38 bullets, her face forever frozen in a surprised rictus of death.


	62. United Family Front

_**Chapter 62: United Family Front**_

_**BAU Headquarters  
>Quantico, Virginia<strong>_

_**6:42 pm  
><strong>_

There was a blur of activity as the agents rushed with the info just in, cross-referencing the access logs of the files with Mara's recorded activity as a Social Worker. They were also able to find Martha's service record as a nurse, which had been carefully manipulated in order to gain access to the Buchanan household.

"Why didn't anyone pick that in the family's background check on her?" Tony mused as he studied the adulterated papers, his trained eyes finding the changes which none of Joy's siblings had seen before.

"Rule number seven." Gibbs said, looking at a copy of the report on Martha/Eva which they had been able to compile in a very short notice.

"Be specific when you lie?" Ziva looked up at Gibbs as he nodded lightly, his gaze finally resting on Joy who was sitting forlornly in a chair away from the conference table, McGee's arms around her shoulder as he hugged her sideways, both staring at the cell phone in her hand waiting for news from Glasgow.

"In Martha's case, lie specifically only about what you consider absolutely necessary. She adulterated her resume but most of the info on it is true. Her educational background, her work in the hospital in Delaware, her position as staff nurse in a military base... She just incremented here and there only to ensure that she would pass undetected in any background check the Buchanans might do." Gibbs added his worried gaze on the couple just a few feet away.

"How did they know where to find Joy?" Morgan asked just to receive a shrug from Gibbs.

"No idea. But at least we now know that they were absolutely sure that Lorelei Knox was the child who became the Servant." Tony said, looking at a fax he had just received and handing it out to Gibbs.

Gibbs read it silently frowning at its contents. Tony looked at the other agents in the room, explaining, "We've contacted Dora Jensen, Knox's sister. She has confirmed that the PI who came by her house was one of our suspects. We've sent her a picture and she recognized straight away the PI as the one and only Mira Stryker a.k.a. Mara."

"So mother and daughter are working together on this." Rossi looked at Hotch, observing him gathering his thoughts.

"We must now find out who is calling the shots. Who is the leader: The mother or the daughter?"

Reid went to the board and started scribbling as fast as he could think, "My bets are on the daughter, as the mother would have taken her time to carefully groom her daughter to fulfill her part in the plan, yet she has still managed to stay undetected behind enemy lines for weeks. A leader would be right in the middle of it, leading the ground troops and being active in the kidnappings and the torture."

Prentiss picked her cuticles nervously, worried about the old dragon lady, "Which we know Martha/Eva couldn't do it as she had to keep her cover as a nurse until it was absolutely necessary to reveal herself."

Some kind of sixth sense made Joy jump out of McGee's arms, startling him and also everyone around of the conference table. They saw her staring out of the window to someone who had just entered the bullpen, before running out of the room as if her life depended on it.

McGee looked confused at Gibbs before he followed her gaze, finding two very muscular men marching into the bullpen, their BDU uniforms covered with dust and mud.

Johnny and Luke were in their combat clothes. Both must had been in some kind of field exercise. Their faces held no hint of the smiling and good cheering lads McGee had met in Glasgow a few days before his wedding.

The agents followed Joy at a more sedated pace and reached the bullpen just as she ran towards her oldest brother, jumping into his arms and trusting him to grab her in a bone crushing hug.

"Johnny!" She moaned and hid her face on his neck, unsure of how she was supposed to explain the situation and what her role was in this mess.

He hugged her tightly, his gaze going from one face to the other before finally reaching McGee's and Gibbs' eyes.

"Hey, Peanut."

"What are you doing here?"

"I was training my new team here in the marine base at Quantico when Lisa was able to finally locate me."

"Johnny, I've messed up." She lowered her face, ashamed, "Dad, he is..." Her voice quivered and faltered. Johnny sighed and leaned so he could kiss her forehead in a comforting gesture.

"Dad is fine." Luke said in a calm controlled voice, his stance rigid and his eyes staring at the BAU and the MCRT agents who were looking at the siblings' reunion in silence.

She fidgeted until Johnny gave her some room, so she could look at his face with teary eyes, "He is? How do you know that?"

"Mark gave me a call five minutes ago. Dad was stabbed but Mark said he will be all right. They've arrived in time to stop the bleeding and transfer him to the local hospital in Glasgow."

There was a shared relieved sigh from the agents.

"Thank God." McGee ran a nervous hand on his neck, feeling the tension slowly ebb away.

"Maggie?" Gibbs was still concerned.

"What about mom?" Joy latched on Johnny's arm, begging for news. "Did the sheriff and Mark arrest Eva?"

Johnny's lip went up in a tiny smirk, "Nope."

"Why the hell not?" Rossi couldn't hide his indignation but the two marines just shrugged.

Luke had the honors to inform them, "She was already dead when they've got there."

Joy let go of Johnny's arm and took a step behind, now staring at Luke and Johnny confused.

"How?" Reid asked, seeing the same surprise in the faces of his colleagues.

Johnny folded his thick arms, his muscles straining against his black t-shirt and said with a small smirk.

"Mark had visited mom this morning and he had given her a small .38 making her promise him to keep it on herself at all times. He had had a bad feeling in his gut and it became worse after your little call to them today. So when the little snake decided to show her true colors mom filled her chest with bullets."

Both marines couldn't help a full grin as they saw the astonished looks on the agent's faces. However, their mirth was short-lived, as Johnny's face clouded over as he laid his eyes on the murder board in the conference room, immediately recognizing its contents.

"Now can anybody here explain to me what's going on?" He pointed to the murder board, "And what are the pictures of Sarah, Temp and Palmer doing on that board?"

Joy took a step back, instinctively seeking McGee's hand for support as she saw her oldest brother slowly coiling under the spell of the very well known Buchanan temper.

"Johnny, you'd better sit down."


	63. When the shit hits the fan

_**Chapter 63: When the shit hits the fan**_

Johnny and Luke heard the explanation given by Gibbs and Hotch, interrupted here and there by Reid, Morgan, Tony or McGee with bits of information on the investigation. The more they heard, the tenser they got.

Joy could feel the tension going up, an uncoiling spring which was ready to snap at any moment. She could feel now and then the glares her brothers would throw in her direction, so whenever one would do that she would lean against McGee, who was aware how tense she was and had his arms firmly around her shoulders.

At the end of the explanation, she was almost on his lap.

When Hotch mentioned the torture the three youngsters were likely to suffer, it finally happened: Johnny stood up in a graceful movement for someone so big and went to the wall close to the entrance door.

His punch on the wall surprised everyone, making the ladies jump in their seats and prompting Joy to stand up as everyone stared, surprised, to the imprint of his fist in the plaster of the wall. Johnny struggled to keep his temper in check, but it was clear by his set shoulders and clenched jaw that he was just on the edge of being violent.

"Johnny." She whispered, praying to God that he would keep his cool.

Now wasn't the time for rage, but for cool heads.

He turned around and his face was transformed, the anger had been funneled to cold rational thinking as he turned to look at Gibbs with a hard glint in his eyes, his military mind already making plans ahead.

"If you need an assault team, my men are your men."

"We already have a SWAT team." Hotch was quick to point out the obvious, but Johnny was already shaking his head disagreeing with the senior FBI agent.

"With all due respect, they are not like my men, sir. My men were trained to go in and out of volatile situations, with minimum loss of life in war torn zones. They are trained in bomb dismantling, sniper shooting, rope, and all the works."

"Johnny, we can handle it." Joy tried to salvage the situation, but Johnny wasn't up to conversation.

"Joy, _this is not about you anymore_."

The conviction in his voice brought a chill to Joy as she saw the ice in her brother's eyes. She found the same coldness present in Luke's gaze as he stared at her silently, just waiting for a moment to express his displeasure with the situation.

Gibbs frowned as he considered this family's connections.

"What are you talking about, Sergeant Buchanan?" Gibbs used the title on purpose, making the older Buchanan turn his attention to him.

Johnny looked to Gibbs with cunning eyes, before turning his piercing gaze at Joy for a long time with a hardness in it that made her mind jumpstart in several directions, finally finding an answer that chilled her to the bone. She stared horrified to her oldest brother, seeing him nod as he saw her finally figuring out that the shit had finally hit the fan.

"Johnny? What have you done?" Her voice quivered in a soft whisper as she slowly sat down, feeling shivers throughout her body.

"_They know,_ Joy." Those two words were enough to make her go pale immediately, enough that prompted McGee to take her hands in his, squeezing them lightly afraid that she would faint, such was her shaking.

"Joy? What's going on?"

"They know what?" Reid, as usual, was oblivious to the silent communication happening between the two Buchanan siblings.

"Johnny! _How could you?_ She's too young!" Joy shouted, finally overcoming her fright and starting to feel angry at her brother.

Johnny was quick to disagree, "Once I was given my new command post, I was also given presidential orders to handpick my team. Family was preferred for security purposes."

"But... _it's Temp_! You couldn't involve her!"

He shrugged, "You've said no. I had to find someone else."

McGee immediately figured out that there was something more that none of the siblings were willing to share. He looked at Joy and saw how shaken she was, staring at her oldest brother as if she couldn't believe what he had done.

"What's he talking about, Joy?" He asked and Joy who refused to meet his gaze, making his anxiety level skyrocket.

Whatever this was, it wasn't related to the dangers Temp was subjected at the hands of her kidnapper, but to whatever mess Johnny had involved her without consulting Joy.

"Oh God, we're screwed." She muttered, finally supporting her aching head in shaking hands, trying to calm down.

Luke ran a hand over his short cropped hair saying the obvious, "This is bad."

"How bad?" Gibbs asked, seeing the seriousness in both Luke and Johnny's faces.

"What is going on? What are you not telling us?" Ziva asked, seeing how Joy seemed to deflate in her seat.

She rubbed a tired hand over her eyes, the marching band that kept playing inside her skull changed tunes and played faster, making her headache turn into a full blown migraine, "Gibbs, Johnny has drafted Temp for the project."

Her soft words made both the BAU and the MCRT look at Joy surprised, before looking at the silent nod of confirmation from Johnny.

"If she is a member of your mom's secret project, then we have a national security risk in our hands." Gibbs was the first one to point it out, but he was shot down by Joy's nervous laugh.

"Not mom's project, boss. _Johnny's_."

"I don't see the difference." Tony was the first to point it out. Johnny grimaced at him, throwing a worried glance at Joy as she kept her face hidden in shaking hands.

"Tony, mom's program is above top secret, but its purposes are mostly defensive. She is mostly doing research and reviewing research done by others. Johnny's is..." Joy couldn't finish her sentence, as her brother stood straighter, staring at the former marine without blinking.

"Offensive and proactive." His calmly delivered words were still enough to bring a heavy silence into the meeting room.

Both Hotch and Rossi tensed at the repercussions of those three words and what they could possibly mean. They had just an inkling of what the family was involved, but they had been present at the wedding and they had witnessed how familiar the old Buchanan lady was with the president, the Joint Chiefs and several other generals. If there was the minimal chance of that information being leaked … it would be hell to pay.

Joy sighed, finally looking apologetically at McGee who was not able to hide his hurt from her, "Johnny approached me before the wedding ceremony making a proposal. He had just been offered a new U.S. based command post and he was…uhm... _drafting_ people for support positions. He put out some feelers just to see what I thought your reactions might be if you were offered a civilian position in the Air Force, but I flat out refused because I know how much you love NCIS and despite how attractive the offer might be, you wouldn't ever abandon Gibbs' team just to join something so time-consuming as a project like Johnny's."

"And Temp is supposed to work with them? In what capacity? What would a lab tech do in an offensive military project?" Tony couldn't figure out how that was supposed to work out.

"That's classified." Retorted Luke, glaring at Tony and daring him to ask anything else.

"So you read her in the project. When did that happen?" Hotch was more interested in the repercussions to their case than the secrecy involving the family's dealings.

"We read them both in a week ago." Luke ran a nervous hand through his dark short hair.

"Both?" Ziva caught that, immediately asking for explanations, "What do you mean both?"

"We offered Jimmy a position as well." Johnny informed, bringing moans and groans from the NCIS agents present in the meeting room.

"Hey, you're trying to steal our autopsy gremlin?" Tony asked outraged and his question brought a light smile to the serious Buchanan marine.

Johnny shrugged, not bothered by the accusation, "In his defense, he was still considering the offer. But it was pretty attractive considering that he would make ten times his current salary. They were supposed to contact me again in two days with their final answer."

Joy asked, seeing both her brothers tense, "Do they know where the base is?"

Luke nodded, "Not only that, but both visited and were granted full access to it."

"We gave them the grand tour three days ago." Johnny said, noticing the worried glances between the profilers in attendance. That piece of news was very important.

"We profiled that the members of this group are all about control. The victims were being stalked before being snatched." Morgan said, looking at Hotch for confirmation.

"So we must assume that Temp and Jimmy were already being tailed when they visited your base." Hotch said, receiving nods from Johnny who agreed with his statement.

"When you say they were granted full access, what do you mean by that?" Rossi asked.

Johnny answered in a clipped way, "Biometrical."

"Oh crap." Joy moaned, hiding her head in her hands again . Her headache was back full force and the nausea was making its grand appearance again.

"What's that supposed to mean." Tony asked, looking from Johnny to Luke as a spectator of a tennis match.

"That's why you offered them both, right?" Joy lifted her head to look at Johnny, before turning to Tony to explain, "The security in the base is pretty tight, so besides the marine's contingent protecting the grounds, all locks are designed to read biometric signs and genetic markings specific to each individual. By hiring both Temp and Jimmy, Johnny ensures that any offspring they might have will already be listed in the database, ensuring access to any future recruits of the same genetic line."

"That's impossible! We don't have this type of technology." Reid said just to be shot down by oldest Buchanan sibling.

"Son, if you think that then you're in for the surprise of your life." Johnny said shaking his head.

"That's why I've said _no_ to Johnny when he approached me at the wedding." Joy looked to McGee, who was looking unhappy with her deciding their future without consulting him previously, "It's a life time commitment, Tim. Not only for us but for any of our future children as well. I'm not willing to shackle them to a military project before they are even born."

Her eyes pleaded with him, transmitting a silent message that he caught very well. _If they are born._

"So..." Ziva looked at each marine, before looking at Gibbs for guidance, "What do we do now? We can not let that information fall into some crazy fanatic's hands."

Gibbs considered for a moment before turning to look at Johnny, a calculating glint in his eyes, "How many people do you have in your unit?"

"Counting me and Luke, we're twenty marines in a highly trained assault team. If you need more, I can get as many as you want with just a phone call."

Hotch looked at Gibbs who was studying the eldest Buchanan with cold blue eyes. Finally the leader of MCRT looked at Hotch, his eyes hard as steel as he reached a decision.

"Make the call."


	64. The Plot thickens

_**CHAPTER 64: The Plot thickens**_

_**BAU Headquarters  
>Quantico, Virginia<br>07:05 pm  
><strong>_

Luke and Johnny exchanged a few hushed words with McGee before going to Gibbs, shaking his hand before their hurried exit to wherever they needed to go to gather an assault team.

"Get me a location and my men will go." Johnny said, his gaze firmly on the team leader.

"We're going in too." Gibbs said, not giving an inch for discussion.

Johnny smiled lightly, seeing the determination in the eyes of the older man, "I don't see how I can get you clearance. You see, our transportation methods might be a little... ahem... _unorthodox_."

Gibbs considered the situation for a moment, remembering the amazing technology he had seen in his brief excursion in Maggie's office and lab, as well as the other toys they had been introduced while in their brief visit to the Project's main office.

"I think we can handle it. Just bring it on."

"Aye Aye sir."

"Gibbs." He corrected Johnny. "Don't call me sir."

Luke was on the phone and approached both marines, signaling to Johnny that they should be on their way.

"Hi Jack, this is Luke. Yeah... listen, man, we need permission to use the jet. No, not _that_ one. The _other_ one. No. Not that one. The _other _one." Luke stared blankly ahead for a second, before his face broke into a huge smile. "Thanks, man. You're the best. We'll be waiting for your touchdown at the base in Virginia. Bye."

He disconnected speaking to Johnny but his eyes were on Gibbs. "We have thirty minutes until transport is here."

"Good," Johnny sighed and looked at the murder board, the three mugshots staring accusingly back at him. "Get me a location, Gibbs."

"You'll have it when you come back."

Both siblings started to march out of the room, but Johnny still had time to stop before Joy and touch her chin with his fingers, lifting her face so he could look into her eyes.

"We're bringing them back." He assured her, noticing how her eyes filled with tears but none fell.

"I know." She whispered.

He looked up and found McGee's gaze on him. He nodded firmly to the oldest McGee and followed Luke, running towards the elevators to prepare for the rescue mission.

As both marines left, there was a hush of silence in the room, as both teams gathered their thoughts for a moment and considered what they should do next. Tony stood up and cleared his throat, bringing everyone's eyes on him as he clapped his hands and rolled his shoulders, as a pugilist getting ready to enter a ring.

"Okay everybody, you've all heard the man. We've got thirty minutes to find where the crazy whacko took our kids. So let's put all those big brains of yours together and find where a little rat would go with all her little rat followers. Come on people, _let's do it_!"

Everyone broke into a nervous smile before digging back into the files on the table, demanding here and there for info either from Abby or Garcia.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Abby, I need an address." Gibbs looked at the clock, seeing that they still had ten minutes to the agreed time.

The sound of keys being hit in quick succession could be heard through the video, as Abby worked frantically trying to find information, "I'm working on it."

"Work faster."

His comment received a grimace from the Goth on the screen, who kept her eyes on whatever she was working on, "I think I have something, but I don't know what that's supposed to mean."

"Tell me what you've got."

"I've checked Nursezilla's phone logs and there were several phone calls to a landline in the outskirts of Urbanna, a little village in the shores of Rappahannock River just out of Chesapeake bay. I've traced it back and that's when things get hinky."

"How hinky?" Ziva asked, biting the tip of her pencil.

"Well, that phone is listed as one of the main branches of an old psychiatric hospital, which has been inactive for the last twenty years. It was closed down in mid 80's due to complaints of mistreatment of patients, unauthorized human testing and such. The accusations were done after eleven long term elderly patients suddenly died in a period of three weeks. Most of them had no family to speak of, but one of the dead had a distant nephew who was an investigative reporter. He thought such a sudden string of deaths was strange and started an investigation, which led to the closing of the hospital in 1985."

As Abby spoke, several different newspaper clippings appeared in the screen in rapid succession, showing the media take on the scandal that led to the closing of the hospital.

Hotch approached Gibbs' side and studied the clippings before his eyes. Something caught his attention, "Stop. Go back to that last newspaper article."

Abby froze and blinked, staring at the camera for a second before obeying the order. A yellowed newspaper clipping appeared in the screen, showing a grainy picture of the entrance of the hospital and several people being escorted down the stairs towards police cars in the bottom of the image.

Hotch squeezed the pen between his fingers, his frown showing his deep concentration, before he spoke to Gibbs, "Look at the names of the doctors being arrested."

Gibbs frowned and squinted at the tiny text, refusing to look for his glasses to read the tiny subtitles. Abby took pity of him and enhanced the image, making it clearer and bigger in the screen.

"Dr. Ian Simmons and Arnold Stryker." Rossi read it.

Hotch nodded and called his own colorful tech, "Garcia, try to find any connection between these two doctors and our Martha and Mara. There must be a reason why they took on their names and check if there's any activity in that property now."

"There's more than that, Hotch." Garcia's face appeared on the screen paralel to Abby as blonde typed furiously, "Both good doctors were firm supporters of the Zenith foundation."

Reid and Rossi exchanged a look, before the Italian profiler asked for more info. "What's the connection?"

"Both doctors had financial ties to Zenith, as several donation checks for the maintenance of the hospital can be traced back to some accounts which were frozen by the DEA when the Zenith group was debunked in 1987. All that money came in but no money was actually invested in a better situation for the interns."

"They were using the hospital for money laundering." Prentiss said as she entered the room, the printouts of the info found by Garcia in her hands. She quickly distributed it for the sitting agents.

"If it is so, why weren't they arrested when Zenith were busted in 1987?" Tony asked, going to Gibbs' side and watching the two computer geeks typing furiously, each in their own lair.

"Probably because both were already in jail by the time of the FBI raid in the compound in Detroit." Abby bit her lower lip as she read the info in her screen, "Anyway, Dr. Ian Simmons was an ardent defender of electric shock for psychiatric patients in deep depression and catatonia state but what broke the camel's back - or in this case, flushed his career down the toilet - is that he insisted on using it repeatedly, causing massive memory loss in his patients and in some cases death. Dr. Stryker had a small pharmaceutical research going on, where he performed double blind tests on new fitotherapic drugs, without the consent of the patients or the patient's families. One of his biggest suppliers was Marck & Co, one of the pharmaceutical giants in the country."

"Hey, can you repeat that?" Joy asked.

Abby froze her hands over the keyboard, "Which part? I've been speaking about a lot of stuff..."

"The name of the company, Abby."

"Marck & Co."

"Oh..." Joy sat back on the chair, her eyes becoming glazed as she ransacked her brain trying to find where she had heard it before.

"Not only that," Joy said after a moment, interrupting Abby's continuing monologue and prompting both Gibbs and Hotch to look at her, "Marck is also a subcontractor of the Pentagon. Their scientists and facilities are used by the CDC for research and development."

"Development of what?" Morgan asked and felt a groan rise up when Joy bit her lower lip and refused to answer.

Gibbs' face closed up and he stared at his agent coldly, silently ordering her to answer the question. Hotch sighed and supported his open palms on the table, staring at it as he made his question, "What threats are we dealing here?"

"Ebola, Plague, Anthrax, just to name a few. Most of the top twenty of deadly diseases included in orange and red alerts are studied by Marck's under orders from the CDC."

Groans were heard from every agent in the room, "If there was a leak from their laboratories, wouldn't it raise a flag?" JJ asked, worried about the tension on her supervisor's face.

"Several, these things are under constant vigilance and control is top priority. But if there's even a single change of these fanatics putting their hands into highly dangerous pathogens, we have to deal with extreme caution." Prentiss said.

Garcia clicked her pink pen, breaking the silence which fell onto the agents, "But I think Abby is onto something here."

Everyone turned to the redhead, who was typing in a frantic pace on her half of the screen, "The hospital is listed as empty in the city hall, but electricity, gas and phone lines have been all reconnected and updated." She hummed, seeing something that made her raise her eyebrows.

"Garcia." Hotch growled, not willing to play guessing games.

"Don't rush me, my lord. I'm good, but I'm not that good." She bit her lip, and looked at the camera. "The place has been abandoned for a long time but suddenly three years ago someone decided to bring electricity and water back into the building."

"Any chance that might be the place where they've been held?"

"Why else would someone request high tech custom-built electronic locks, motion sensors for the surrounding grounds and a 50 megabyte pipe to a psychiatric hospital which is full of bird droppings and empty cells?"


	65. Now what, Jose?

_**Chapter 65: Now what, Jose?**_

All agents stared at the satellite image of the hospital and the surrounding areas. It was a forlorn gray building surrounded by ample woods, situated at least twenty miles from the next village or settlement. It was isolated, protected by woods and with only one access road.

Perfect for keeping hostages.

"How high tech?" Rossi asked.

Garcia had left her den and had brought her laptop with her. She was now sitting at the conference table and there was a very interesting lock on her screen. "It requires a nine digit numerical code which is generated every 24 hours and given only to the person responsible for security. He then informs those who are granted access to the building of the change, keeping it active only until a new one is generated."

"That sounds a lot of work for an empty building," Reid muttered.

"It's not empty," Abby said, her face on the screen huge as she leaned towards the camera, "I was able to track down several truck deliveries of chemical compounds and specialized machinery to that address. Apparently, they are installing a hell of a lab in there."

"Any chance we can intercept the password in any way?" Rossi asked, just to see both geeks shaking forlornly their heads.

"Their system is off the grid, I can't acess it from here. Believe me, I've tried." Garcia moaned, sad for not getting the answer she wanted from her babies.

"If it's off the grid, it would take a direct clamp in their mainframe to redirect the information, thus creating a backdoor which would allow us access to their data and surveillance system." McGee bit his lower lip as he stared over Garcia's shoulder, studying the picture in her screen.

Gibbs glared at McGee, who immediately realized he had gone on geek speak, "English, McGee."

McGee glanced up at his boss, "Ah… It would need a physical invasion of their system, Boss. Much like a deviation of water, we would have to put a transmitter directly in one of their mainframes which in turn would allow us to access their files."

"Can you do that?" Hotch asked.

McGee blinked at the older man, as up until now he hadn't considered actually doing it. "Tap their lines? Ah... If we can localize exactly where their main control room is I could try."

"The catch is that they must be aware of the failings of their system, so their main computer will be in the most secure room of the building." Abby muttered, glaring at the screen.

Tony muttered, "Well, that narrows it down a bit."

"Nine digit access numbers. Do you have any idea how high the number of possible combinations on this thing is?" Prentiss asked rethorically.

"1,000,000,000 combinations." Reid muttered, making all agents in the room immediately look at him. "What?"

"I hate you, Reid," Garcia said good-naturedly, a small smile on her face as she looked at the young genius.

Reid looked at her hurt, a wounded puppy look on his face, "What did I say? I've just answered your question."

"How is the code generated?" Rossi asked and Abby hurried to answer him.

"A random mathematical equation is done by their mainframe generating the code that is in turn electronically transmitted to the person responsible for patrolling that section of the building."

"No chance of intercepting it?" Gibbs was already planning ahead, but the forlorn look on his geeks' faces made him want to curse.

Loudly and fluently.

In Russian.

"We don't have enough juice for that." Garcia moaned.

"What do you need?" Joy interrupted, making all three geeks look at her.

"We would need a computer similar or even better than the one in MTAC." McGee said while Abby and Garcia also gave their opinion on that.

"We need the biggest honking computer you can think of." Abby said, her ponytails bobbing as she nodded energetically.

"She's right, we need more juice than what I can offer with my babies here." Garcia complained, seeing the blank stare on Joy's face as she thought about it. She finally looked at her watch, before glancing distractedly at the agents around the table.

"Garcia, gather everything you need, we're leaving. Abby, do the same and call Ducky. Be in the heliport at the top of the building in five." Joy got her cell phone and dialed a long number, before she lifted her eyes just to find Gibbs already by her side.

"Who are you calling?"

"Uncle Jack." She answered softly, looking to the side as whoever was on the line answered the phone, "Hi, Christine, it's Joy Buchanan. Is General O'Neill in? Thanks." She tapped her feet nervously on the floor as she waited for the connection to go through.

"Hi, Jack. Ah... you've heard. Listen, I need access to the mainframe. I mean, our geeks need access to the mainframe. I need you to give them clearance to use it." She paused to listen to him for a while. She looked at Gibbs with a frown, as she tried to convince the General of her point. "I don't have to tell you the seriousness of the situation at hand, do I, Jack?" She heard him chattering for a while, before finally breaking into a smile, happy with whatever he had said. "Thanks, Jack. And I'll send your well-wishes to mom and dad."

She disconnected and stared at the phone for a moment, before looking at the agents who were watching her expectantly, "Grab everything you think we might need, transport will be at the heliport in five."


	66. Girlie screams in scary situations

_**CHAPTER 66: Girlie screams in scary situations**_

All agents gathered their go bags and were on top of the building one minute before the deadline given by John, waiting for the transport which would take them to the base. Night had fallen and the wind was starting to pick up, the heavy dark clouds hanging very low in the sky announcing summer thunder storms which would soon wash the land.

The hissing wind made their clothes glue to their bodies and it also presented a difficulty to any rescue attempt they might attempt that night, as visibility would be next to nil during the height of the storm being announced by the black clouds hovering over their heads.

"We have to hurry, your brother's helicopter must arrive soon or the pilot won't be able to land on the roof!" Hotch shouted to Joy over the howling wind, his necktie floating to the side like a flag over his shoulder.

"Let's gather everyone here in the middle of the helipad." Joy motioned to everyone to stand in a close formation in the middle of the green landing platform, getting confused looks from the BAU and knowing grins from the NCIS agents.

"If we stand in the middle of the helipad the helicopter won't be able to land!" Reid shouted at Joy, but she just grinned and shook her head.

She shouted something back to him but it was lost in the wind. He squinted trying to read her lips but he still couldn't figure out what she was saying.

"What?" The rumbling thunder a few kilometers covered her answer again, the lightening illuminating the valley where the building was located.

She repeated again, this time in the silent moments between the thunder crackling in the sky over their heads.

"We're not going by helicopter!"

"We're not... then how?" He looked around confused and his eyes landed on McGee who just grinned and comfortably folded his arms at the exact moment that a strange light shone on his middle and expanded, covering his whole body and made him disappear.

"What the..." The same light engulfed everyone on the helipad, making one by one disappear. Reid and Morgan exchanged panicked looks, and both just had time to cover their faces and open their mouths to scream a girly scream before they too were gone.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They materialized again in a dark circular room with only one source of incandescent light directly above their heads. Reid and Morgan were still screaming, but they shut up when they saw their colleagues staring at them. Hotch and Rossi were trying very hard not to freak out at the strange experience they've just had.

The NCIS agents just grinned, but that was also short-lived as several gun carrying marines suddenly came out of nowhere, pointing guns at them, making the agents immediately go on alert.

They even drew their weapons but their Glocks looked puny when facing automatic assault weapons.

"Stand down!" Joy shouted, raising her arms and showing she was unarmed.

One of the marines pointed to the side and all agents could see a small black console beside him. Joy glanced at Gibbs and McGee as she slowly approached the console, putting her right hand on top of it.

Apparently it was a thermo sensor display as its gelatinous surface immediately started to read her finger and palm prints, identifying her by name, social security number and NCIS ID. It emitted a long beep and all marines lowered their weapons, making all agents feel more comfortable.

A sliding door opened to their right, revealing a brightly lit corridor and a sculptural female body, clad in an ivy green suit covered by a pristine white lab jacket, the curvaceous body accented by the white light coming from behind which made her long blond hair almost white.

"Welcome to Oz, my dears," said Hope Buchanan, her grin going from one ear to the other.


	67. Off to see the wizard

_**Chapter 67: Off to see the wizard**_

_**Undisclosed Location,  
>Somewhre in Virginia<br>07:46 pm**_

The NCIS and FBI agents followed the two sisters down a long corridor which had doors on both sides, each leading - they could only guess - to labs where people were working on God-knows-what projects, properly escorted by armed marines that ensured they stopped at none of the doors they walked by.

Hope babbled away while Joy just hummed here and there, her eyes fixed on the end of the corridor where a huge titanium door was, nodding at the scientists with laptops in their hands going from one lab to the other.

"What kind of place is this?" Reid asked, just to receive a frown from one of the marines, silently indicating that any questions wouldn't be answered so soon.

McGee rushed in his steps and took Joy's hand in his, setting his steps at the same rhythm of hers, receiving a glad glance in his direction before she focused again on Hope who kept talking.

"Abby is already here, we've assigned her to one of our situation rooms. Ducky was sent to infirmary, where he can catch up with the docs on duty."

Hope glanced at Gibbs who was just two feet behind and grinned brightly, without missing a step and as she deviated from the marine coming in the opposite direction, "She is in love with our toys. Air Force has the best toys and they've let me play so I can enhance them."

"Have you uploaded the charts with the info Abby and Garcia has sent you?" Joy asked, stopping as they had reached the sealed door at the end of the corridor. Hope passed her ID card in a designed slot to open it, before placing her hand on a gelatinous pad to scan her palm prints.

"Ah, yes. We've also made deep satellite scan of the area and we have loads on information for you guys. Abby was just adapting it to the 3D projector as I left her to pick you up."

"What is a 3D projector?" Prentiss asked, seeing that the light above the door changing from red to green.

"It's one of my toys. I've made it!" Hope giggled like a schoolgirl who has just found a cookie jar filled with goodies.

The doors slid open horizontally and all agents blinked at the harsh light, until their eyes got used to the artificial brightness of the LED monitors covering the walls of a huge room, which strangely reminded them of the control room of NASA in a very hyper modern way.

"Where the hell are we?" Rossi muttered with astonishment in his voice, his gaze finally landing on Hotch who also seemed out of his comfort zone. He frowned as he noticed that there was awe but no surprise on Gibbs' face. Same couldn't be said of his agents, as Ziva, Tony and McGee were looking at the command central as if they were kids in a toy store, barely containing their eagerness to explore every nook and cranny of the place. Joy, in the other hand, was looking at a glass-walled room a few feet to her right where a pale woman with dark hair in pigtails was typing energetically in front of a computer screen, a red cup of soda in easy reach.

"Welcome to the control room of the Deadalus project." A man in dress blues and countless medals on his chest approached them, his stars on his shoulder indicated he was a General.

"I'm General Stevens, I'm responsible for this base." He gestured to the side, indicating a small pathway towards the room where the Goth could be seen. "This way please, your forensic analyst was already wondering were you were."

Gibbs took the lead, followed by his agents and the BAU. Hope waited for Garcia who was looking enchanted to the computer terminals all around her.

"Hi, dear. I dig your looks." She said as an ice breaker.

Garcia blinked and turned her gaze to the beautiful blonde, checking the deep green suit. "Wow, I dig yours too. What are those?" Garcia pointed to the leopard print shoes that Hope was wearing.

"Ah, those are Jimmy Choos. I've spent a fortune on them. Aren't they marvelous?"

Garcia nodded, as the ice was broken and both had common ground now. Both blonde and redhead entered the small room side by side where all agents were gathered around a black polished table.

Abby, as soon as she heard them coming, turned on her chair and jumped towards Gibbs, her grin contagious as she tried to explain.

"Gibbs, Gibbs! This place is fantastic! They have super hyper computer with gazillions of gigabytes to be used. They can make millions of calculations simultaneously and I'm not even scratching on the surface of its capability and..."

"Abs..." Gibbs tried, but Abby wasn't done yet.

"And it's so new and top and can I have one? _Please_?" She batted her eyelashes, pleading at him.

"What have you got, Abs?" She grinned at Gibbs' usual line and looked at Hope, who tapped Garcia's arm lightly and led the dumbstruck woman to one of the computer consoles beside Abby's seat.

"Here is your corner, Garcia." Hope said and watched proudly as Garcia started typing, smiling at the quick response of the keys.

"Wow..."

Hope then turned to Abby, who was barely containing her enthusiasm. "Would you do the honors?"

"Gladly madam," Abby then touched the big black table which dominated the center of the room, and immediately a 3D rendering of the building they had seen just in satellite pictures appeared, showing a detailed image of its rooms, elevator shafts and pipes. "This is architectural design of the Simmons' hospital in Urbanna, which had been filed at its construction back in 1963. There were alterations done to the project in 1974 and 1980."

As she mentioned the years, she gently touched something in the table and the office divisions in the floors changed, each year in a different color. "There were extensive works on its grounds for the last three years, as we have been able to trace deliveries of building materials and equipment to the site. However no new updated plant has been filed at the county municipality' archives."

Tony leaned towards the image and ran his hand through the hologram, which flickered once in touch with his skin.

"Man, this is so cool" He said grinning.

Gibbs rolled his eyes at his antics and looked at Ziva. She understood the silent order and with a little grin hit him with a well placed headslap.

"Ouch."

"Focus, Tony."

"What about the grounds around the hospital?" Hotch approached the table, observing the detailed rendering of the structure.

Hope leaned over the table and touched something else in the polished surface, and the zoom changed, showing the building and surrounding area with bright yellow dots, the geographical disposition of the trees and the small river in the back a few yards of the complex.

"That's when it gets quite complicated." Abby said, pointing to the yellow lights. "See these dots, they are motion sensors. They are spread throughout the grounds and I think it's like a big billboard announcing they want no visitors."

Johnny entered the situation room while Abby was explaining, catching the tail end of it. He went to stand by Gibbs' side, his eyes on the 3D model of the area.

"How are we going to get close to it? There's a river on one side, the forest blocking the other side and a tiny access road that for sure is under surveillance." Tony moaned as he tried to find a weakened point in the 3D model.

Johnny stepped closer to the table, his forehead creased. Finally, he looked at Abby, "What's the weather forecast for tonight?"

Abby blinked, before going back to the computer and searching for the info. "It's cloudy and rainy right now, but they are expecting tornado like storms washing over the area for the next twenty four hours."

Johnny nodded slowly, his eyes going back to the hologram. "Good. Once the rain becomes a full blown storm, we'll go in."

"But..." Reid looked surprised at Johnny, "How will we get there? And how will we get past the guards and the motion sensors and …"

"Kid," Johnny smiled, "our chosen transport method isn't affected by extreme weather. The rain will act as a cover, confusing the sensors as anything triggering them might be easily mistaken by rain damage. We'll be fine."

"You're going to... beam us up there?" Morgan chose his words very carefully, receiving withering looks from Rossi and Hotch. The team leader wasn't one to mince words.

"What exactly is this facility?" Hotch asked, seeing Johnny's shutting down immediately, before throwing a glance to General Stevens. The profiler turned to the general, who observed all agents in the room in silence, unsure if it was wise exposing all their secrets straight away.

But before he could give them an answer, the choice was taken out of his hands as Reid saw a small gray creature wobbling towards the 3D table. His eyes became huge and he pointed to it, his voice cracking as he called out his boss.

**_"HO..HOooottchhh!"_**

Everyone turned to it, but despite their instinct to draw their weapons they didn't do a thing as the creature reached the table and looked up at Hope, receiving a blinding smile from her. Even Abby and Garcia were staring at it with open mouths.

"Hi, Clotho, do you have what I need?" Hope asked, and she was given a black polished stone.

"I've prepared the program as you've requested," the being said, glancing at everyone in the room, before speaking again in its highly distorted voice, "Which one of these is going to infiltrate their systems?"

Joy's eyebrows went up and she glanced at Timothy, who was staring at the creature with huge eyes, standing beside their equally shocked colleagues Tony and Ziva. He glanced at her briefly and she gestured with her head that he should introduce himself.

He gulped and took a step forward, shivering when those big fish eyes turned to look at him.

"I'm the one, ma'am... uhhh sir."

The creature didn't change its facial expressions. Maybe it simply couldn't.

"Uhm." The being studied him up and down, "I'm Clotho, chief specialist of the Asgard. I've prepared a program in order to ease the humans' access to their mainframe." Clotho started to walk in very short steps around Hope towards Timothy, without missing the beat, "Once the strike team enter the complex, they will lead you to the first sublevel, where we have registered a high electrical activity. We're guessing that's where their mainframe is. All you have to do is clip their high speed connections and attach the stone with the program. It will immediately open a backdoor so those in here might control remotely the facility."

McGee gulped and glanced around, seeing no change of expression on General Stevens's face and a small smirk on Gibbs'. Johnny simply wiggled his eyebrows, indicating that he should say something.

"Ah.. thanks, I guess."

"Indeed." Clotho turned to Johnny, "We've arranged two transport ships for this mission. They will arrive in three point five minutes. I suggest you brief your team of their tasks and depart as scheduled."

Johnny said in his most deferential voice, nodding lightly to the Asgard scientist, "Yes, ma'am." He glanced to Hotch and Rossi, who were still gaping at the alien. He grinned and gestured to the door, signaling that they should go.

Meanwhile Reid had slowly approached Clotho and, once he was within touching distance, stretched his finger and gently touched the gray skinned creature, poking it lightly on her arm. Clotho turned and blinked at him, seeming to be as curious at the human as he was towards herself.

"You're really real." He whispered, looking fascinated at Garcia who was almost bubbling with happiness. "They're real. They really exist."

He blinked as the Asgard repeated his gesture, poking him on his arm with its long gray finger.

"Indeed. So are you. Now that we have ascertained how real we are, can we proceed?"


	68. Down the rabbit hole

A/N: Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

A very special chapter for you guys, in this wonderful day when our Savior was born. May this day and the upcoming year be filled with Joy, Hope, Grace and Faith!

I'm adding a soundtrack for this chapter, so please look up the following song at YouTube and hear it in the background: _**Transformers: The Score - Arrival To Earth**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 68: Down the rabbit hole<strong>_

After shaking hands with General Stevens and saying goodbye to Clotho, they were divided in two groups. Garcia, Abby and Hope – the three tech goddesses - would stay back in the control center to remotely assist them once McGee physically hacked their systems, and the NCIS and BAU team would go with Johnny's strike team.

With a single exception...

"You're not going," said McGee sternly to Joy, who was walking beside him as they followed Johnny and the other agents through the corridors to the hangar where they would meet Johnny's team.

"Why not? I'm fine."

Before she even finished her words, McGee was already shaking his head, disagreeing with her.

"I'm not taking the chance. You can keep in touch by radio, but we won't take you there and rub your presence in right in their faces."

"Tim." She glared at him, but he was not letting this one go.

They've finally reached a huge cargo elevator big enough to carry a tank between the floors of the facility. They boarded it and heard the doors sliding closed behind the last person to come inside. Its doors were made out of metal but the back wall of the elevator was made of some kind of transparent material, showing the wall of the carved tunnel going down the mountain the base was located.

She growled at and turned her back to McGee, walking to stand by her brother's side, as he was silently observing the argument between the couple.

The elevator started to slide down, the numbers of the sublevels in yellow paint appearing as the cargo lift went by another level.

"Even if he'd said yes, I would still say no." Johnny muttered in a low voice, without looking at her. She looked up him, hearing the determination in her oldest brother's voice.

"I can handle myself in the field." She answered, tension filling her voice.

"I'm not saying that. I know you can kick ass as good as any of my marines, but you're grounded. We can't take the chance, their primary target was you and we're not giving them the slightest chance of putting their hands on you." He turned to her and folded his arms, his thick muscles in evidence as he glared down at her from the top of his six feet two over her. His glare was daring her to contradict him, and silently transmitted the message that if she tried, he would flatten her to the floor. Either physically or emotionally, as he would have no qualms of pulling rank over her if that was what was necessary to force her to listen to him.

She grimaced and lowered her eyes to the floor, silently acquiescing to his order.

There was a gasp from their left. Joy looked towards the source of the sound and saw the fascination on the faces of the FBI agents and also the grins on Tony and Ziva's and McGee's faces as they looked to something just beyond the glass wall of the elevator.

She turned her gaze towards the direction they were looking and had to hold her breath. The elevator was going down parallel a subterranean hangar where a huge Daedalus class ship was being built. Several people could be seen working on its hull, either hanging from ropes or standing on platforms. It looked like an ant maze with scientists and technicians running around trying to fit this or that to the ship.

Joy looked at Johnny, who had a small grin on his face. "What?"

"They've chosen the name for the new ship. Uncle Jack said that it would be a nice touch given the family history."

McGee slowly went to her side, one of his hands moving to Joy's shoulder and squeezing it lightly. She looked up at him before she looked to where his other hand was pointing at. There, at the very edge of the front of the ship, there were four letters - U.S.A.F. - and the name of the vessel.

_**Maggie **_

Joy could feel a huge grin blossoming on her face, and she looked up and saw the same grin on McGee's face as well. He looked down at her, "She will love it."

"It's supposed to be a surprise." Johnny muttered, grinning at his sister and his brother-in-law. "So no running to tell her otherwise you will spoil it."

Both youngsters nodded, smiling like crazy. This was a too good surprise to be spoilt like that.

The elevator kept going down, finally slowing down as they reached two levels above ground level where some technical offices were.

Johnny pointed with his head to the door opening to their side, "Not bad for a small country boy from Montana, uhm?"

Their mirth filled air became solemn when they finally left the elevator, marching on the platforms parallel to the offices where the agents could see several scientists checking and rechecking pieces which would be later transported to _the Maggie._

Johnny, once he reached the end of the platform, guided them down some stairs towards the ground floor, observing several muscled man in black BDUs gathering equipment a few feet below.

Once they reached the ground, Johnny gestured to Gibbs and Hotch to follow him, so the other agents stayed close by while Johnny, Gibbs and Hotch approached the marines, who all ran to get into formation and stood frozen as Johnny finally stopped before them.

Johnny shouted, "Attention!"

Johnny gave a nod to Hotch, who took the front of the marine platoon. Hotch took a deep breath, his gaze resting on each marine staring at him, just waiting for his debrief. He mentally shook himself out of the daze he had been since he fell through that rabbit hole and organized his thoughts. This was just another debriefing meeting, just another profile. He was good at this. Profiling was his daily bread, all he had to do was ignore the huge alien starship being built behind him and he could do it.

"My name is Special Supervisory Agent Aaron Hotchner from the FBI. I'm here to debrief you on what you're going to find once we reach our target. We're dealing with an extremely organized group, lead by a woman formerly known as Mara Swanson a.k.a. Mira Stryker. She's a psychotic killer's daughter and she has presented the same psychopathologies as her father. Her plan of vengeance is focused on the hunt and killing of all those who testified against her father and his followers in the event of his arrest back in 1987."

Rossi walked to Hotch's side, taking over from where the BAU leader left, "However, once she started killing off the witnesses, one of her targets eluded her. Her quest for the one codenamed _Servant_ led her to research the Buchanan family, which in turn made her stumble into the family secrets and, finally, this facility."

"I don't have to explain to you the seriousness of this situation." Gibbs said in a loud voice, his gaze piercing each one of the marines.

"The existence of this base _**must not**_ fall in the hands her organization, neither of those who are somehow supporting her and feeding information on the Buchanan's secrets. Secrets which are deeply connected to the development of this project from its very start."

The marines were all staring at Gibbs. "Dr. Margareth Buchanan was one of the top scientists who helped to project the prototypes for the ship you are seeing over there." Gibbs pointed to the spaceship being build a few yards to his right. "Mara's people have already killed six people we know of, probably many others we don't. She currently has three of our people as hostages, two of them who were granted full access to this base. She won't stop killing until she is caught."

"One characteristic of this type of behavior is that these individuals are totally loyal to their leader." Reid said, taking a place beside Rossi. "They've been brainwashed into their cause so they won't be open to negotiation."

"Permission to speak, sir!" one of the marines, a deeply sunburnt man with huge eyebrows and a very shiny bald head, asked in a loud voice.

"Permission granted, marine." Johnny said.

"Are you giving us permission to shoot first, ask questions later, sir?"

Johnny glanced briefly to Gibbs, who stared down the marine with his usual cold glare.

"What's your name, marine?"

"Dennis O'Hare, sir."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes as he approached the marine, standing right in front of him as he spoke in a clear voice which reached everyone standing around the agents.

"Mara and her people flogged to death four people, the attack so brutal the skin and muscles of their backs and torso were ripped from over the victim's bones. There is the very real possibility that they are doing the same thing to three people I care very much right now. The question here is not if you're going to shoot and ask questions later. The question here is if you are going to be able to shoot them before I take them down first."

O'Hare blinked and kept staring straight, not moving a muscle.

"Are we clear now, marine?"

"Aye, sir."

Gibbs turned to Johnny who simply offered him a little smirk, before eyeing his marines own again. "GEAR UP!" Johnny shouted.

The marines left their positions and rushed to a small door which led to the armory, the sound of their boots resounding in the ample hangar. Gibbs turned around and found Tony, Ziva, McGee and Joy staring up at the _Maggie_, as a small mechanic arm moved to bolt a metal plate in the hull skeleton.

Reid and Morgan also took a few steps towards the NCIS agents and stared up, trying to absorb the sheer size of the deep space carrier being built in that underground facility.

"Well," Reid said, "That actually explains a lot of things about your family."

McGee smiled as he put an arm over Joy's shoulders, bringing her against his chest. He nodded distractedly to Reid, "It takes a while to wrap your mind around it, but it's never a dull day in family gatherings."

Reid smiled, nodding as his eyes followed a mechanical arm going to one of the sections in the belly of the spacecraft. "Never a dull day, indeed."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The two teams gathered in the armory and were fitted with the standard gear from the elite tactical troops. Tony and Ziva were donning the black shirts and trousers which were standard issue, along with the ankle and leg holsters.

"Do we really need all that fire power?" McGee asked fidgeting with the leg holster as Joy came carrying the standard mikes and radios for them to use.

"You're being fitted only with the standard gear. The heavy stuff is separated for the strike team." She battled his hand away from the strap of the leg holster and gently adjusted the radio in his ear, adjusting the mike handle to its correct position. She tapped it lightly and he startled a little as he heard Hope and Garcia happily chatting in his ear.

She tapped her own radio, "Garcia, I've turned McGee's radio on. Can you check if the incoming sound is okay."

"Oh, gorgeous Elflord, speak and we shall hear you." The FBI tech purred, bringing a blush to his cheeks. Hotch and his team, who had all already been fitted with their own radios, smirked at the young blushing agent.

"I can hear you loud and clear as well as twenty marines and all your team." He said chagrined.

"Kid, don't worry. She is usually much worse with me." Morgan said closing his bullet proof vest over his chest.

"Of course my chocolate covered adonis, you are simply the most lickable and fantastic G-man in the team."

Morgan, who was used to Garcia's food flavored teasing, still blushed at the scrutiny of Gibbs and Hotch at the tech's colorful description.

"She's my baby girl." He said as explanation.

Hotch showed one of his rare smiles at Morgan's chagrin, shaking his head at the excited chattering of the tech ladies in his ear. Apparently, Garcia had found long lost soul sisters in Abby and Hope, and they were comparing... _shoes_?

Johnny arrived at the room, looking around and finding all agents fully geared. He nodded to Gibbs and Hotch, indicating that their transport had arrived.

"Show time, folks."


	69. Scifi delights

_**A**_/n: I hope you have enjoyed your Christmas time. Now as we prepare for the New Year yet to come, please check the newest chapter of this little tale.

Again, this one comes with a background music: **_Transformers: the score – you're a soldier now. _**

It's easily found at youtube.

And I hope your inner geek gets the chance of squealing with this chapter…

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 69: Sci-fi delights<strong>_

The agents followed Johnny out of the armory, arriving to the main hangar to find two sleek ships of a very alien design sitting on the previously empty area. The marines to whom they had given the profile were efficiently boarding the ships in an organized mess, showing to their trained eyes that these men had done this before.

Several times.

Both Hotch's and Gibbs' teams approached the vessels with awe in their eyes, gazing fascinated as they slowly approached their lowered doors. They were surprised to see a very familiar face on the man coming out of the first one in a black BDU.

"Luke?" McGee approached his brother-in-law, who genuinely grinned as he approached McGee and slapped him loudly in the back.

"My man, welcome to my humble abode. Please, here my name is Luke '_Skywalker'_ Buchanan and this..." Luke turned to his ship, his eyes shining with pride, his voice in a reverential tone as he spoke to the agents. "This babe here is my _Millennium Falcon_."

"Really?" Morgan glanced up, a smirk blossoming on his lips.

Reid was almost bursting with excitement, eager to explore the interior he could only catch glimpses of.

Johnny rolled his eyes and gestured to the other agents that they should board Luke's ship, "When you work in this project, it's hard to escape the sci-fi allusions when you are surrounded by scientists who grew up watching Star Trek and Star Wars."

Meanwhile Tony and Ziva observed curiously the movement of the marines towards the other ship.

"What's the name of that one?" Ziva asked, just to receive a grin from the ship's pilot, who was standing proudly by its lowered doors. Tony stood behind her as the brown haired man with a naughty smile looked at the standing agents and saluted.

"Ah," Luke's smirk was the precursor of the punch line of a joke, "That's Malcolm Reynolds." His words made McGee, Tony and Reid look with startled eyes to the pilot, who simply grinned and pointed up. The agents looked at the hull of the ship and indeed, in a fancy handwriting, the name _**Firefly**_ was etched just a few feet under the main viewing window.

"I'll be damned." Morgan muttered under his breath while Reid opened and closed his mouth, unable to formulate a single sentence.

Prentiss just shook her head and motioned to JJ who gently picked Reid's jaw from the floor and pushed him into the lowered gates of the _Millennium_.

"Come on folks, let's board." Rossi shook his head and followed Johnny inside the ship, joining the few marines already sitting in their own assigned seats.

Ziva pinched Tony who startled a little, before grinning at her and hooking his arm in hers, dragging her up the ramp so they could explore their ship.

Luke stood by the ramp with Hotch and Gibbs. Both agents turned and silently watched as McGee walked towards Joy, who was standing a few yards apart of the movements of the troops, her gaze firmly set on the ship under construction which dominated the hangar.

McGee approached Joy silently, noticing that she was so deeply in thought that his hug startled her. She closed her eyes and sighed, leaning back against his BDU clad chest. He kissed her curls gently, feeling her shiver before turning in his arms and hugging him firmly, her arms snaking around his waist as they silently stood in the hangar, ignoring the movement of the troops and scientists running a few feet away from them.

"Hey." He murmured as a shiver shook her body, showing him that despite all her eagerness to go with them she wasn't yet one hundred percent well. He sighed as he remembered that the results of the exams Ducky had submitted earlier were probably ready but with all the hurry and worry of the last few days neither of them had the time or will to go pick them up.

"Are you going to be okay?" he murmured against her hair, feeling her arms squeeze his waist, despite the layers of protection given by the BDU and the bullet proof vests he was wearing.

"Yeah, I... just..." She sighed and wiggled back, enough so she could look at him. He could sense her restlessness and her anguish, how she wished she could go and cover his back, but she was aware that she would only be a liability. Both were also worried about their loved ones, the images of the torture and pain inflicted to Mara's previous victims flashing before their eyes. The idea of finding Sarah, Jimmy or Temp in that condition was unacceptable.

They had to be alive.

"I know." He murmured, receiving a grateful weepy smile from her.

She raised a hand and framed his face, her fingers gently running over his incipient five o'clock shadow, his features as familiar as her own. She silently considered the years they've shared, those who had been influenced or touched by them, and lifted her gaze to his, seeing the same calm determination that had attracted her in the first place.

"Just bring them home." She finally said, receiving a small nod from him, his gaze never wavering from hers.

"McGee!" Gibbs shouted, indicating that their time was over.

McGee sighed and took a step back towards the ship, just to be stopped by Joy's hand on his arm. He looked up and saw such anguish on her face that he couldn't step away. In two seconds he had her in his arms, kissing her and showing all his worry and love, rolled up with a deluge of emotions hard to explain as he brought her against his chest and kissed more and more.

Finally their time was over, and he lifted his head, finding her misted eyes resting on his face.

"We're bringing them home." He vowed, his gaze never wavering from hers.

He let her go and walked with firm steps towards the team leaders. Only after he was by their side he stopped to look back, seeing her looking at him showing no hint of her previous turmoil on her face anymore.

Luke squeezed his shoulder, a firm hand guiding him inside the belly of the ship. "Let's fly, bro."

Once Luke and McGee were gone, Hotch and Gibbs nodded solemnly at Joy and climbed up, just as the ramp started to move up.

The agents entered the ship and found a couple of marines already manning their stations, while the BAU and NCIS agents sat in the back, tensely waiting for the take off.

Johnny motioned to Gibbs and Hotch to sit beside him in the back, while Luke guided McGee to the copilot seat, taking the pilot seat and starting the preflight check.

"I don't know how to fly this thing." McGee muttered, his mind still in the last moments he had shared with his wife.

Luke gave him a knowing look, "Relax and enjoy the view."

He clicked something and the panel in front of them became transparent, allowing them to see the hangar below. McGee then was able to see Joy running up the stairs of the hangar, so she could reach the higher office levels and watch the departure from above.

"Home control, this is Sierra-Gulf-Kilo-nine asking permission to take off." Luke said in his mike.

Back in the situation room, Abby, Garcia and Hope were all in their work stations studying the weather when the comm came. Hope immediately touched the outgoing button and answered. "My dear, this is home control. You're clear for take off."

Luke grinned at the familiar voice, "Have you cleared the skies for me, babe?"

Garcia grinned at Hope, who rolled her eyes at her brother's irreverence and leaned towards her station, seeing on her screen the movements of all aircrafts in the area between the base and their target. "Take her to the black, space cowboy."

Luke shook his head, amusement filling his voice as he said, "Man, I love my job."

Having said that, he pressed something that started the engines of the ship the only sign of it a slight trepidation that could be felt by its occupants. Reid closed his eye and gulped, receiving a grin from Morgan.

As the engines fired up, Joy had finally reached the platform leading to the elevator. She stopped on the catwalk and stared awed at the ships as they gently took off, hovering in the air several feet above the floor without much noise. Her fingers held the rail firmly as she followed them with her eyes as they made a turn in the air and went to the corridor that would lead them to the exit port. Once they disappeared from her view, she turned and ran to the elevator, eager to be with her sister and friends in the control room.

In the ship, Rossi sat back and got ready to enjoy the trip, while Hotch had a quiet satisfied smile on his lips that was bugging Prentiss. He finally felt her gaze on him, lifting his eyes to look at her who leaned her head, silently asking what was in his mind.

"What?"

"What are you thinking?" She asked, surprised to see one of his rare full smiles.

"I was thinking that I'll never look at the BAU jet the same way again." His words prompted Reid to look at him, taking his attention away from the alien writings on the walls.

"Can we keep one of these?" His childlike question brought laughter from the agents, making even Johnny grin from his seat beside Gibbs.

"I don't think we could afford it, kid." Morgan said, looking at Johnny for confirmation. The marine nodded, sitting more comfortably for the short flight.

"Your whole yearly salary wouldn't even pay for its fuel, kid." Johnny said, closing his eyes to focus on the mission ahead.

"Really? What type of fuel does it run?" Reid was already making calculations on his head, trying to come up with equations for the necessary energy to put that vessel in the air.

Johnny shook his head, puzzled with the question. "Asking the wrong person, kid. If you want to know how this baby runs, you'd better talk to my mother."

Gibbs, sitting beside Johnny, just sat back and relaxed, closing his eyes to feel the slight vibration coming from wall against his head rested.

In the co-pilot's seat, McGee saw the amazing string of information being simultaneously loaded on the screen at the same time heavy rain fell against the front shield as they flew over some tiny villages and scarcely populated areas.

"Aren't they going to see or hear us?" McGee asked, his eyes set on tiny houses passing by in an amazing speed.

"Nope," Luke said, checking the wind speed registered on his control panel. "We're cloaked thus invisible to naked eyes or any type of radar. Besides, any beep they might hear might be mistakenly considered as a result of the thunderstorm."

"Uhm..."

Buchanan pilot gave him a saucy smile, "Relax, we'll be landing in five minutes." He touched something on the console, "Hey, dear, what is the wind speed at the target?"

Back in the base, Abby typed on her computer finding the data Luke had just requested, "23 miles per hour, oh-thirty-azimuth direction."

Joy had reached the situation room a few moments before and chose to sit back behind all the activity of the girls on the computers, her gaze divided between the several screens scrolling data only the three techs could understand and the 3D model of the hospital they were going to raid. She shivered and hugged her middle, trying to keep her current discomfort from being noticed by the three tech-savvy ladies on the computers.

"It's raining cats and dogs on the target site, so I suggest you guys be creative on your landing approach." Hope said, just to receive a grunt from Luke.

"Johnny," Luke called him out, "What's the plan?"

In the back of the ship, Johnny looked to his side where Gibbs opened his eyes minutely, just enjoying the silence before the storm.

"_Firefly_ will unload their marines in the woods and block the main access road, so they can clear the grounds and keep any incoming threat out of our backs. We will touch ground in two stages: first team will jump ship once Luke lands on the roof, dropping Tony, Morgan, Reid and Prentiss, along with ten marines. You will then canvass the top floors working your way down as your top priority is finding Jimmy, Temp and Sarah. If you find trouble, comm Luke, he will know what to do to rescue you."

Once Johnny received nods from the first strike team, he turned to Gibbs, but continued speaking to the other agents in the hold, "McGee, Gibbs, me and a five marine team will be dropped off on the ground floor just a little off the main building, so we will work our way directly to the underground floors where we think her control room is. We will be an infiltration team, our sole purpose is to take over their mainframe so we can open the way for you guys to go into the compound. Hotch, Rossi and JJ will deploy right after us with the rest of the marines on their own mission, you will canvass the lower floors while Tony' and Morgan's get the upper ones. You know what to do."

Hotch's face was stony, his gaze firmly on Johnny as he said his next words.

"Find Mara. And stop her at whatever cost."


	70. The Spear

_**Chapter 70: The Spear**_

Bright lights flashed before Jimmy's eyes as he blinked repeatedly trying to clear the sweat and blood that was blurring his vision. His glasses were long gone, the first victim of Muscles' boots. The brawny thug was greatly enjoying his punching and kicking session on Jimmy's poor body, but that was exactly what Jimmy preferred.

Despite Sarah's and Temp's screams at their captors and at his torturer, he had been the only one to suffer any physical attack so far. He was tied by a rope to a low ceiling bean, hanging like a piece of meat in a slaughterhouse, unable to protect his fragile and already bruised ribs of the abuse of Muscles' fists or the venom of the Black Widow's eyes.

Muscles smiled and grabbed Jimmy by his hair, bringing his head up almost snapping his neck. The young man breathed with difficulty through his broken nose, his blurred gaze trying to fix on the leather clad woman walking in lazy steps towards him.

The woman - who Jimmy mentally nicknamed Black Widow as she looked and acted like one - stared at him without showing a hint of compassion in her eyes, as if her thug was just kicking a poor homeless dog, not a human being.

"Are you ready to answer my questions?" She asked in a monotone, her piercing eyes never leaving his.

Jimmy blinked and spit a little bit of blood to the side, almost hitting her polished shoes in the process.

"Go to hell," he moaned, closing his eyes seconds before her fist hit his already bruised chin.

"Insolent rat!" She gripped his jaw, her long red nails digging the delicate skin, forcing him to look at her. "I am going to ask just one more time: what is hidden inside that facility you and your little tramp went escorted by the military? And why a lowly medical student like you would be seen escorted by a high rank officer?"

"That's my brother, you idiot!" Temp screamed, fighting against the plastic ziptags which kept her tied to the chair, as well as Thing's beefy hands on her shoulder, which forced her painfully back on it whenever she tried to rush to her boyfriend. Thing dug his thick fingers on Temp's shoulder, leaving marks on the delicate skin and eliciting a pain-filled moan out of the young lady. Sarah growled and tried to bit her own captor's hand, who she had mentally nicknamed as Sleazy, thanks to the greasy look of his hair plastered against the side of his head.

Sleazy just chuckled and tangled his fingers through Sarah's hair, pulling at it painfully and forcing the girl to look up at him. He grinned as he leaned down, his mouth almost touching her earlobe, causing ripples of disgust to run throughout her body as his fetid breath touched her skin.

"You and I will have a lot of fun, dollface."

"Over my dead body, jackass." Sarah hissed at him, just to moan as his grip tightened, pulling painfully at her scalp.

"That can be arranged." He said, licking her cheek and grinning as she struggled to get away from his grip.

The woman released Jimmy's face and slowly approached Temp, who gulped and did her best to wipe away any fear out of her features.

"That man might be your brother, but there's still some kind of secret deeply hidden behind those electric fences. A Secret that one of you will reveal for me, otherwise I will let my men slowly beat every inch of your skin until there's no place left untouched. And once you are all bloodied and broken, they will bring you to me, and you will have a personal encounter with my favorite toy."

"You're sick." Temp said, just to moan loudly as her captor grabbed her head and shook it painfully by her hair.

"Don't say that to the Mistress, you little miss. You have no idea of the power she wields."

"Sure," Temp growled at him, her eyes firmly set on the woman standing before her. "The only power she has comes from your muscles, because she depends on you gorillas to do her dirty work."

The woman's face closed off, her anger making her eyes shine like stones. She gestured to the thug, who grinned lasciviously and leaned forward, his thick fingers gripping a knife that he used to cut the zipties that held Temp captive in the chair. The young FBI agent tried to use the few seconds of freedom to attack the thug, but Thing had seen that move coming and with a lightening fast move grabbed her neck and squeezed, smiling as she struggled to breath, her nails scratching his beefy arms and hands. Jimmy struggled in vain against his bindings, while Sarah screamed, unable to free herself to help her friend.

"Let's see how much of your insolence can be beaten out of your hard skull once you've met the force my hand." The black clad woman said, gesturing with her head to the thug who dragged the struggling youngster to the other side of the room, grabbing a length of rope from over one of the tables with strange things scattered over their surfaces. He used it to bind firmly Temp's hands and tied her over a steep inclined bench, which was strangely out of place in that mostly empty room.

Temp gulped and turned her head, struggling to breathe as she looked at the Black Widow approaching a long wooden chest, placed in one of the corners of the room. She opened it reverently and took something wrapped in black silk out if it, closing the chest with a dull thud.

She slowly unveiled the thing out of its silk cover, and Temp couldn't help her instinctive shudder as she stared at the cat'o'nine tails in the wicked woman's hands.

"Let me introduce you to 'The Spear'". She said with a cold smile in her lips, the weapon hissing in the air as she moved it obvious expertise. She lifted an eyebrow to Thing, who grinned and grabbed Temp's shirt and lifted the cloth, unveiling pale skin to the cold air.

Temp's eyes became huge orbs as she figured out what was about to happen, at the same time that Sarah and Jimmy started shouting, their struggles in vain against their captors as the Black Widow took a step forward and lifted the weapon in a flash, bringing it down over unblemished skin.

Three people screamed, their anguish of different sources, but their pain came from the same pit of despair.


	71. The raid begins

_**Chapter 71: The raid begins**_

The whistling wind carried the heavy droplets of water which hit the fresh earth, making the trees dance under its power. Night had fallen and with it the storm had increased its fury.

As the ships reached their destination, they parted ways: Firefly made a round path in the air towards the access road, as their marines would block it and make a painfully slow approach towards the compound, while Millennium approached the main building flying low over the river, hoping to avoid any curious onlookers puzzled at the strange sound of rain falling over the invisible metallic structure of the ship.

Luke expertly flew the ship, keeping it just a few inches away from the surface of the water and using life sign detectors on the ship to get a reading of the grounds around the building.

Gibbs, Hotch and John were standing behind Luke's and McGee's seats, observing over their shoulders the readings appearing on the screen.

"They have guards here, here and here," McGee said pointing the thermal readings on the screen on the grounds doing rounds, and at the top of the building. "As well as cameras here and here."

"I was expecting more guards." John said, studying the display with narrowed eyes.

Hotch slowly shook his head, deep in thought, "They don't need much. All security they need is provided by the designer locks and the CCTV system. And I'm guessing they have a very impressive subterranean structure to house the equipment Abby tracked being shipped to them."

"When do we get in then?" Gibbs asked, his first words since they stood behind the pilot's seat.

John kept his eyes on the screen as he spoke in a low voice, "Luke, approach the left side of the boathouse and use it as cover so the first two teams can deploy. Once that is done take the long path up and approach the roof from northwest, leaving the last team on it. Hopefully we will be already inside and on route to the control center when you do that." He looked back to the marines and agents standing up, ready for action.

"Get in formation, follow your team leaders and... Godspeed."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

There were a couple of sentries along the dirty road leading to the hospital, the old asphalt here and there showing bits of grass growing from holes that rain, neglect and time carved in it.

A rugged man with a dirty beard and a tattered hat, which barely covered his thinning gray hair, sat in a chair tipped back on the small veranda of the wooden booth which guarded the beginning of the access road to the hospital. Beside it, an old truck which had certainly had seen better days during the Bush - the father, not the son - administration was parked slowly rusting under the rain. He simply sat there, slowly chewing his tobacco remarkably similar to cows ruminating grass. He would have been just another redneck enjoying the sound of the rain falling on his roof if not for the deep scope rifle lazily lying close to his hands, within easy reach of his fingers.

His eyes were alert on the road and the woods surrounding his booth, but he was still taken by surprise when two black clad people silently jumped on the veranda apparently out of nowhere and attacked him.

He tried to resist, but these shadows used taser guns against him, rendering him helpless twitching as electricity charges painfully coursed through his body. He lifted his eyes and still tried to reach the rifle, just to see one of the invaders move it away from his reach with the tip of his boot.

"Eagle four has landed," One of the Johnny's marines said in his radio as he entered the shed and looked around, immediately taking stock of the decadent state of the walls, peeling paint and overwhelming dirt covering all surfaces, quite incongruent to the state-of-the-art laptop resting on top of a table in a corner of the cabin. He opened it and found a password protected screen. He closed it again and took it with him.

"Proceed as agreed. Radio silence until second orders." Another voice came from radio. The marine came out of the shed and gestured with his head to his colleague, who grabbed the man under his armpits and dragged him inside, tying his arms and legs with zipties, and shutting him mouth with tape.

While the one inside secured the prisoner, the one on the veranda stood guard as a slow trickle of marines came out of the woods and started to slowly walk by the shed towards the compound, starting their track to take down any guards and surveillance equipment between their position and the compound.

The game was on.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Two teams deployed in the area behind the boat house, doing their best to not drag their feet over the platform linking the ship and the muddy ground as they struggled against the wind and the rain castigating them from all sides. Once they reached the protection of the shade offered by the walls of the small boathouse, they watched as the ship closed its doors and glided away, floating away over the water to make the long turn to in order to make a safe approach to the other side of the roof.

Johnny gestured to two of his marines who took the front, crossed the muddy distance towards some trees a few feet away as soon as two guards doing the rounds disappeared behind one of the two story buildings further to their left. They took position and kept their guns ready to cover the movement of the others.

"We'll have to make a run for it," Hotch said, taking a peek of the elusive entry door on the southwall of the building, noting the camera and the access panel guarding it.

They would have to cross approximately fourteen yards of empty lot, totally muddy and in the open, until they could reach the door leading to the building.

"As soon as we come out of they will know we're here." Gibbs muttered, cursing their luck.

"Not necessarily," McGee said, digging around his BDU pants and grabbing tiny whitish gray balls in his hands. Gibbs turned to him as his junior agent requested one of the rifles of the marines and took the cartridge off, piled the bullets out and substituted it with the pellets.

"What are you doing, McGee?" There was curiosity on Gibb's tone.

"I've cooked this out during my outings with the Boy Scouts, Boss. It's a fine mixture of flour, egg yolk and some other ingredients that are the best next thing to... bird droppings." He finished loading the gun and took a few steps, taking Johnny's position on the corner of the wall, taking a peek at their target. Johnny took a step back and just folded his arms, curious to see where his brother-in-law was going to do with... mock bird poop.

McGee took another a peek, taking cover when the camera moved to sweep the empty lot and moved away again. He took a deep breath, shouldered the rifle and, timing the movement of the camera exactly, stepped out of the cover and took aim, shooting twice and hitting right on the lenses of the camera.

"Bull's-eye, kid." Johnny said, smiling and tapping him on the shoulder when he took a peek again and, indeed, found the cameras rendered useless by the ingenious invention.

McGee grinned at the unexpected praise, beaming proudly at the older man. Gibbs just smiled and took position after Johnny, who gestured to the agents and marines who did their best to scurry across the lot towards the electronic door, always on alert of any sign of danger. The other two marines on the tree line stayed back, their rifles ready in case any sentry on the roof sounding the alarm.

The agents glued themselves against the wall under the shelter of a small marquee which protected them from rain and McGee once again took charge as he approached the electronic lock and started studying it, while he opened his canvas backpack and started digging around.

"Can you open it?" Hotch asked, seeing the frown forming on McGee's face.

The younger man just smirked, drew a blank credit card attached to a small palmtop and set down to work.

He plugged the card in the slot and as the numbers started to glide on his screen he started to type in an amazing speed, lost in the world of numbers and passwords.


	72. There's still… Hope

**_Chapter 72: There's still… Hope_**

Both girls were lying on the cold cement floor of the cell, their bodies battered from the brutality suffered at the hands of the thugs. Shivering violently, as soon as Sarah woke up she lifted her head from the floor and tried to look towards Temp, who was folded in fetal position across the room they were in.

After using 'The Spear' on Temp while forcing both Sarah and Jimmy to watch the beating, the crazy woman kept Jimmy for another round of her own brand of interrogation while she granted free rein for two of her own gorillas with the girls.

The doors closed on Jimmy and the crazy woman, and both Sleazy and Thing simply threw the girls over their shoulders and carried them down a barely lit corridor towards their old gray cell. Once there, Sleazy's hands tried to wander on Sarah's body, but his attention wasn't welcome. She kicked him exactly where it hurt the most and in exchange for that he threw her on the floor and gave her some well placed kicks.

Darkness was a very welcome guest at that moment as it blocked Temp's screams as Thing did the same thing to the helpless hurt agent on the floor.

"Temp?" Sarah's voice came out timidly as she called out the to injured FBI agent, who groaned and lifted her head to be able to look at the other girl.

"Sarah," Temp gulped and closed her eyes as she tried to move and she felt the welts on her back smarting. The Black Widow had just graduated to Black Bitch in Temp's opinion, and she couldn't wait to find a way to get out of that godforsaken place and teach a lesson to that... "Sarah, I need you to listen … very carefully to me."

"What's going to happen to us?" Sarah asked, "Is she really going to kill us?"

Temp shook her head just to regret later as black spots danced before her eyes, "No, Sarah, she won't be able to kill us because we're going to break out of here before she finishes the job. Besides, I'm sure my family and your brother are already searching for us and it's just a matter of time before they send a rescue team to find us. But..." She moaned as she felt every one of her wounds and welts smarting as she tried to sit down, despite the bindings on her hands and feet. "Meanwhile we have to save ourselves."

"How?"

Temp closed her eyes, breathing deeply for a moment. When she opened them again, they were clearer and focused on the task at hand. She dared not voice her fears to Sarah, as she knew how bad things could get yet. Jimmy was still with that woman, and he had sworn secrecy when she introduced him to the project. Now, they had to escape and somehow... rescue him too.

"At your engagement dinner, I know that Matthew gave you a gift. A fancy watch. Do you still have it with you?"

"A watch?" Sarah's tone was filled with curiosity. "What do you want with my watch?"

Temp opened her eyes and bit her lip, trying to keep the moan inside as she moved again. Fresh blood was pooling somewhere under her, she needed to act fast.

"Sarah, focus. Do you have the watch on you?"

Sarah turned so her back was on the cold floor and looked to her bound hands, finding the cute white watch still on her wrist just over the ziptie. "Yeah."

Temp couldn't hold back a smile, even letting a small chuckle escape as hope started to blossom in her chest.

"Ah, Hope, thank you very much." She muttered, before looking at Sarah and trying to speak in a clear tone, "That's not only a watch, Sarah. It's one of Hope's toys. It's a portable microlaser. I need you to take the watch from our wrist and take the bottom out of it. Once you get it out, you will see a small button right in the middle. You are going to point it to your bindings and push the button. A small burst of laser will come out. You will have to be careful to point it to your bindings and under no circumstance let it touch your skin."

Sarah's eyes were jumping from the watch on her wrist to her future sister-in-law, trying to wrap her mind around what was being said. "Wait a minute... are you saying I have a laser weapon on my wrist? What was Matthew thinking when he gave me this watch?"

"Sarah," Temp's patience - and strength - was almost on its limits, "We all test Hope's prototypes. It's just one of our family's traditions. He probably had no idea what the watch was when he gave it to you. Hope normally doesn't bother explaining her inventions to us before surprising us right in the middle of dinner with one of them. I only know about it because she showed me the latest design back on the base. But I've remembered that she told me that she's seen her first prototype on your wrist. Now use the damn laser!"

"Okay, okay..."

Sarah bit her lower lip as she twisted her hands trying to reach the clasp of the watch, "Almost... there. Almost..." Her long fingers reached and released the clasp, freeing the watch so it fell on Sarah's chest. She took it in her hand and tried to pry it open, and after breaking two nails she could separate the protective casing from watch. Indeed there was a small button smack on the middle of it and a tiny arrow pointing to the place where the winder was supposed to be. She touched the winder and she was surprised when it fell out in her hand, leaving a small hole in its place. "Oh..."

She pointed the small hole to the wall and pressed the button in the middle of the watch. Initially nothing happened, but she gasped when a small thin line of smoke started to appear on it.

Test done, now the hard part. Sarah's shaking fingers held the watch until it pointed to the thin ziptie keeping her prisoner. She lifted her arms high in the air in order to ensure any burst of the laser would not accidentally hit her own body, and pressed the button. Her breathing started to accelerate as nothing seemed to happen at first. But then it happened. The plastic started to melt and slowly the binds became looser. Finally Sarah let go of the button and forced her arms apart, watching the melted zipties fall apart right before her eyes.

"I did it!" Sarah couldn't hold back a small laugh, "You've seen it?" She turned to Temp, just to find her friend in her battered clothes full of blood. "Oh..."

"Great, Sarah, now get me loose and let's get the hell out of here."

With little struggle, Sarah freed her own legs and crawled towards Temp, working on her bindings as fast as her shaking limbs allowed. Temp moaned as her arms and legs complained of the mistreatment suffered, and mentally catalogued each scrape and bruise on her body. Thankfully, despite the beatings, she might have cracked a rib or two but nothing more serious than that. At least, she hoped that. Here and there were cuts and welts from that crazy woman, but nothing that some inventive bindings over the most urgent bleeding cuts couldn't solve.

"We have to get out of here."

"Jimmy," Temp grabbed Sarah's arm, using it as support to slowly stand up from the floor. "We have to find Jimmy."

"Okay, find Jimmy first. Get out of here second."

Both women turned to the door as the sound of someone walking in the corridor was heard. Temp took the watch/laser from Sarah's hand and pushed her behind, effective putting her own body between Sarah's and the door.

"What do we do now?" Sarah whispered behind Temp who took a deep breath and focused all her attention on the door being opened. She put a finger on the button and pointed the watch towards the door.

"We survive."

The door opened.


	73. Escaping

**_Chapter 73: Escaping_**

On the roof, two sentries were protecting themselves from the pouring rain under a small marquee leading to a door with an electronic lock. Both were pouting as they had to be in the cold and in the rain, drenched to the bone, forced to stay there waiting for god-knows-what.

They were talking about the boxing fight in Vegas both had watched during their off day over beers and some weed when they heard a small thump going from the other side of the roof. Both looked at each other confused, as the rain made it difficult to identify what that noise could possibly be.

"Ya'v' heard that?" Sentry number one said.

"Yeah. Sounded like a bird hitting a wall." Sentry two answered said leaning against the wall, slowly rolling a joint cigarette.

"Strange."

"Wanna go check it out?"

"Are ya nuts? Not leavin' my spot no'even for million dollars"

Sentry two snickered and lit his cigarette, took a long drag and offered it to his colleague, who gladly took it and took a drag, immediately getting a dopey smile on his face.

"I'm part pistachio, on my ma's side." He said snickering before lifting the lapels of his jacket and leaving his protected spot to investigate the source of the noise. He walked towards to the other side of the roof, beyond the small house where the engines of the elevators were held. He walked along the wall, lifting a hand to wipe the rain from his face, and when he rounded the corner of the building he froze on his steps.

Several men were literally walking on air until they reached the edge of the roof, and a couple of them were standing behind the elevator house, out of the sight of his colleague and just two feet away from him. He opened his mouth to sound the alarm but a black man with a shiny bald head had just seen him. The black man stretched his arm and grabbed the sentry by his head, throwing him against the wall and effectively disarming him in rapid moves, punching him down and making him unconscious in few seconds.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Morgan, are you okay?" Prentiss called him out, seeing him laying the unconscious sentry on the floor of the roof.

"I'm fine, but we were almost discovered."

Ziva blinked to clear the raindrops from her eyelashes, "We have to find the door."

A very tall and muscular marine nicknamed 'Little Bob' nodded to the Israeli, gesturing to his men, "We've got to take down the other sentry, keep watch from here."

The Federal agents glued their backs against the wall while the marines spread out on the roof and divided in two groups, one going the same way the sentry came from and another going around the elevator building, trying to catch the sentry by surprise.

Bob nodded to one of his men who took the lead and ran in the rain towards the sentry, a P-90 firmly in his hands as he advanced towards the sentry smoking weed.

The sentry opened his eyes from his drug induced high to find the butt of a P-90 going straight to his nose. He fell down like a puppet with cut strings. One marine dragged him aside as the others checked the perimeter before signaling to the agents it was safe to come out of their hiding place.

Reid looked around, his gaze finally resting on one security camera on the ceiling of the marquee, pointed directly to them.

"Morgan," he called out. The black profiler looked up straight to the camera, aware that their element of surprise was over. He then flinched as the camera was hit by a ray of light coming somewhere from his right. He looked towards the direction the shot came from and found Bob with a strange looking gun in form of a Z slowly hissing with the discharge.

"I'm having a bad hair day. I don't like people filming me on a bad hair day." Bob said with a deadpan tone.

Tony smiled at the huge marine as Reid simply shrugged and approached the door, at the same time that Prentiss checked all the pockets of the unconscious sentry. She found a small access card and a Blackberry, giving both items to Reid.

The younger profiler inserted the card and scrolled down the last messages in the Blackberry until he found the one he needed, punched the code on the lock and waited.

All agents breathed relieved when the display lit green and the door hissed open.

"Keep your eyes open and your guns ready, we're going in." Bob said as he took the front of the Marine group who slowly entered the building, being followed by the Federal Agents.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Four floors down, Temp walked over the still smoking dead body of Thing, whose neck had been cut from Sarah's use of the laser and signaled to Sarah to follow her. The younger McGee gulped and almost slipped on the blood coming from the dead man's wounds. Temp checked his pockets and found a knife, a small Beretta and ammunition, which she immediately pocked it.

She looked up and found Sarah shivering lightly standing in the corridor, her glazed eyes fixed on the increasing pool of blood at her feet.

"Sarah"

No response.

"SARAH!"

Sarah looked up, trying not to look down again. "Yeah."

"I need you to stay with me," Temp stood up with difficulty, her grip firm on the Beretta. She checked its chamber, "We're getting out of here. It's okay to freak out, but only after we're free, okay? Nod if you understood me."

Sarah gazed with huge eyes to Temp and nodded minutely.

"Good," Temp walked over Sarah and grabbed her arm, dragging her down the corridor away from their cell and the dead man's body. "Let's go find Jimmy."


	74. Control Room

**_Chapter 74: Control Room_**

Once inside the building, Johnny took the lead with his marines as the federal agents came in the rear. One of his men signaled that the coast was clear so they ran down the corridor towards another electronic door, after hitting the camera mapping that area with a strange energy weapon.

It raised Rossi's curiosity. He opened his mouth to ask the origin of such weapon just to be shot down by Gibbs' pointed glare. The message was quite clear.

_Don't. Ask._

Rossi lifted his eyebrows and shut his mouth, just to hear Hotch muttering under his breath as he brushed past him to follow the other marines. "We're better off NOT knowing, Dave."

McGee started to work on the new door, trying to access the inner server from the computer port he accessed as he dismantled the lock, his fingers typing rapidly on his tiny screen.

"McGee?" Gibbs asked as he shot a pointed look to Johnny who took a look at his wristwatch, mentally calculating if the other team had already landed on the roof.

"There are two elevators on the left once we go to this corridor, Boss. Beside them there are access stairs leading to the upper levels. The lower levels can only be accessed by the elevators."

Rossi pointed his chin to the McGee, his gun firmly in his hand. "Is he done with the door yet?"

The door hissed open at the same time McGee disconnected his portable computer from the electronic lock. He smiled smugly to the older FBI agent, bowing his head and showing the empty corridor with a wave of his hand. "Age before beauty."

Rossi wasn't amused. "Smartass"

Hotch rolled his eyes at them and followed Johnny and his men who started to advance to the next corridor, moving towards the elevators with their guns ready for action. The corridors were surprisingly clean and well lit, with that typical hospital scent thanks to recycled air being blown through the ventilation shafts.

Once before the elevators, Johnny pointed to the door leading to the stairs and said, "Hotch, you know what to do."

The BAU leader nodded and gestured to Rossi and JJ. One marine opened the door letting his team go into the stair area, checking it for any unpleasant surprise before allowing the three profilers in. They soon disappeared from view as the door closed behind them, leaving Gibbs and McGee with Johnny and his five best men.

Johnny glanced to Gibbs and breathed deeply, before turning to the elevator and pressing the button down.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Three floors down in the control room of the facility, two guards had been playing cards when the cameras started going out. The blond one stuck a finger in his ear and proceeded to scratch a blackhead that had been bothering him for quite a while when his eyes landed on the screens and he noticed that three cameras were out.

And now four.

And now five.

"Something is happening, Jed." Blondie said leaving his cards turned down on the small table and approaching the TVs on display, one after the other showing the several cameras spread out through the compound.

Jed surreptitiously looked at his colleague's cards before turning to him. "Try to reset them. Maybe the storm is messing up the system, Ron."

Ron sat down on the chair before the TVs and started typing on an brand new laptop connected to the surveillance system. He huffed when he got no response from the defective cameras.

Jed made a neat pile of his cards and leaned his head forward, a twisted smile on his lips.

"Ya know what that means."

"It could be nothin'."

"But still som'ne gotta talk to her."

"She's gonna be mighty pissed."

"Yeah." Jed put away the deck and looked at Ron until he stared back at him. "You do it."

"No way, she's gonna eat me head and spit it out like a piece of raw meat. You do it."

"Why me?"

Ron pointed a finger at Jed, letting him know that he knew. "'cause ya cheated and looked at my cards, you old fool. You go."

Jed smirked and threw the cards in his hand on the table, making a mess. "You owe me one, man."

Ron simply snickered and started collecting the cards on the table and on the floor, as Jed grumbling went to the door, entered the appropriate password on the screen and left Ron alone.

Not ten minutes later, Ron was again sitting before the flickering screens of the TVs, trying to reset the cameras hoping to normalize the system when he heard the hiss of the door opening again.

Without turning around, he kept typing on the laptop, "I bet she kicked your ass, didn't she?"

The silence he received in response was strange. Then he heard the noise of something powering up in his ear. He looked behind just to find a strange looking weapon crackling before he was hit by an energy surge coming from it and everything became black.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Gibbs helped a marine to move the guard from his chair, leaving McGee free to sit before the surveillance cameras and start working on the open laptop before himself. He started to mutter to himself as he checked the configuration of the system.

Johnny looked at Gibbs quizzically but the older man just shrugged. It wouldn't be the first time that he had no idea what the boy was doing, but at least he knew that McGee always delivered.

"I'm in. I'm going to upload the program now and Abby and the others will have remote access to the CCTV system and the electronic locks." McGee took the small stone from his pocket and attached it to one of the USB ports, and he couldn't help his expression of awe as a program started to load extremely fast before his eyes.

The cameras changed their images before their eyes, making John and Gibbs lean over McGee's shoulders as they tried to figure out what they were looking at.

"What the hell is that?" Johnny muttered as he stared disgusted at images of cells after cells with sick-looking people, shivering under harsh halogen lights in dirty hospital gowns.

"Test subjects." Gibbs muttered.

"Test subjects for what?"

Gibbs took a deep sigh as he looked at McGee finding a horrified expression on his face. The younger man kept typing and froze as new information rolled before his eyes.

"Boss?"

"Yes."

"Hotch and Rossi were right."

Gibbs just raised his eyebrows as McGee kept checking the info on his screen.

"They are planning something beyond the murders. Something memorable."

"McGee?"

McGee couldn't keep the shock from his voice as he read the detailed plans displayed in his screen. "They are planning to release a plague."


	75. Reporting actions

_**Chapter 75: Reporting actions**_

Mara leaned over Jimmy's prostate body over her torture rack, immobilized thanks to ropes cutting the skin on his wrists and ankles. She smiled as she pressed the tip of a knife in one of the open welts on his arm, resultant of the beatings suffered by her hand.

Jimmy moaned but his gaze never wavered from Mara's face, his pain filled eyes staring with hatred towards the psychopath who dared to hurt his girlfriend.

"I have to say that you were a pleasant surprise, Mr. Palmer." Mara pressed the knife deeper, but Jimmy kept staring at her trying hard not to close his eyes. "I was expecting a little puppy I could play with, but you are holding on better than what I've expected. A mere autopsy assistant like you shouldn't be able to endure so much by my hands. I … truly expected you to have folded to my charms. Now, I understand your efforts to keep the Air Force secrets but it's a waste of time. They aren't worth your time or your suffering. You would be better if you just told me what I want to know..."

Jimmy licked his lips, feeling them bloated and cut thanks to the slaps and punches on his face.

"Go... to hell."

Mara stared coldly at him, her eyes becoming hard jewels as she moved the knife and started to create another cut on his chest, sliding it lightly over his skin.

"A dead hero is still dead, Mr. Palmer." She said, putting more pressure on the blade.

A door hissed open and the sound of feet was heard, distracting Mara from her activity. She stood up and glared at whoever dared to interrupt her. The man just shuffled on his feet, waiting for her permission to come closer to talk to her.

She sighed and stepped away from the torture rack, approaching the intruder.

"What do you want, Jed?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we're having problems with the security cameras. We were having intermittent signals and now they are completely out. We're still trying to figure out what's wrong but..."

"Damn you all, can't you do a single thing on your own?"

She glared at Jimmy, who had closed his eyes but was paying close attention to the conversation. "Keep an eye on him, I'll be back shortly."

"Yes, ma'am." Jed said, not willing to be one of the targets of her anger.

She left in a hurry, leaving Jed alone with Jimmy. The man scratched distractedly his bearded chin, feeling out of place inside the Lady's chamber. The filth and blood were everywhere, giving a characteristic smell to the air. He looked to the poor fellow at the rack and found Jimmy looking at him through slits in his blackened eyes.

"Ya know that if ya say or don't say what the miss wants, ya'r' dead, right?"

"Help me." Jimmy asked, daring to feel a flicker of hope in his chest.

"No way, man. She would skin meself alive. I've seen it done before. Mighty unpleasant, if ya git my meanin'."

Jimmy closed his eyes and stayed quiet, just waiting for the next round of torture to be inflicted against his poor battered body.


	76. History repeats itself

_**Chapter 76: History repeats itself**_

Mara walked in fast steps down the corridor until she reached one of the cell doors. She pressed a password on the display and was granted access, the door hissing open and revealing one of the many cells in that floor.

It had a small cot with pink cotton sheets and a small purple pillow. Beside it, a desk had several children books neatly organized one beside the other, each showing the wear and tear typical of books which had been read several times. Beside them, a small pen holder filled with colorful markers was side by side with another with colorful pencils.

There were no toys on the bed neither posters on the walls. In the left corner there was a small washbasin and a toilet. The composition of the room was remarkably similar to the one of a prison cell with its gray walls and lifeless decoration.

"Where are you, little one?" Mara said looking around the limited space of the cell.

She smirked as she knelt on the floor and thrust her arm under bed, grabbing something under it and dragging it out.

Piercing screams filled the air as Mara dragged a little girl in dirty clothes from under the bed, her fingers twisting the dirty and matted hair. The girl fought violently against the cruel hands holding her and tried to bite Mara just to receive a slap on her face. Her screams turned into sobs as she was thrown to the floor, where she immediately curled into fetal position and covered her head to protect it from more abuse.

"Where are they? Where are the newest drawings? Show me what you've seen."

The little girl moved her arm just a fraction of an inch, her huge green eyes staring scared at Mara. She was in a very sorry state: unkept, her dress had been washed a long time ago and it was now showing the obvious signs of wear and tear. Her skin was covered with bruises; most of them were marks of fingers pressed against porcelain white skin. A now reddish mark was blossoming on the little girl's cheek, thanks to Mara's furious slap. She was unnourished, unwashed and showing the yellow parlor typical of someone who hasn't felt the light of the sun on her skin for a long while.

"Where are the drawings?" Mara grabbed the little girl by her arms and shook her, making her head bob around painfully.

She kept silent, staring at Mara with terrified eyes. She glanced briefly to the floor, making Mara follow her gaze.

Mara threw the girl aside, smirking satisfied when she heard the girl's body hitting against the wall. She knelt on the floor and looked under the bed cushion, finding several sheets of paper. She took them and spread them over the bed. Her anger grew as she stared at drawing after drawing of herself surrounded by armed people, their guns pointed at her.

She took the last one, which showed herself with a tiny girl being held in a tight grip by the arm, with a strange triangle flying over their heads hitting both with some sort of light.

"What's the meaning of this?" She turned around and glared at the girl, who sobbed and sat with the legs folded, hugging them against her chest. "What is this supposed to be? Do you really think that they will win?"

The girl kept quiet.

"They will not win." Mara grabbed the little girl by her arm, making her stand up and forcing her to look in her eyes. In a swift move, Mara stood up and started dragging the girl by her arm, disappearing down the corridor.


	77. Hell hath no fury as…

_**Chapter 77: Hell hath no fury as…**_

In the third floor, Sarah and Temp were slowly walking in the barely lit corridor, ignoring the moaning and screaming of the people behind the locked doors. As they walked by one, they both heard a thud as of someone hitting the door with their fists, startling both girls and making them point their weapons to it.

"Temp?" Sarah's voice shook, as she stared at the strange door.

"We can't help them. We have to find Jimmy first."

"'Kay." Sarah muttered and kept following Temp. They reached the stairs and started going down, trying to guide themselves by their memory of their previous visit to the little chamber of horrors.

"Where do you think he might be?" Sarah said holding a baton in one hand and the lazer/watch in another, afraid of being jumped by another gorilla.

"Probably with the crazy spawn from Hell, little miss Nazi." Temp muttered, holding the gun in her hands.

They reached the next floor and came into the corridor, looking up and down and finding it empty. Temp waved a hand at Sarah and both girls hurried down the corridor until they reached a door they recognized.

Both girls looked at each other before Temp touched the screen of the lock, being surprised when the door slid open with no difficulty.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Ya know if you wish I could end your suffering here. It's not a big deal, ya know." Jed said, taking the knife from the table and using it to clean one of his dirty nails.

JImmy blinked tiredly, struggling to focus on Jed's face but finding only a blur in its place. He noticed the door opening behind Jed and two undefined forms approaching the thug who kept taunting him. "The Lady is very piss'd off, but I think that in the end, she's just going to blow us all to kingdom come. Yep, that's it. She's gonna..."

"Blow up your brains if you don't get away from my boyfriend." Temp said as she touched Jed's head with the Beretta.

Jed blinked and froze, feeling the cold steel against his temple. He slowly turned around and found a midget of woman in thorn clothes, but despite the obvious beating she had suffered sometime in the last hours, her grip was firm and her eyes were stone cold.

"Missus, ya'd better be careful. This is not a toy and some poor soul might get hurt."

"Really?" Temp said as she expertly cocked the gun, making Jed gulp afraid. "Sarah, set Jimmy free, please." She said without taking her eyes from the thug.

Sarah ran to Jimmy's side and started cutting the ropes with the laser from her watch. Once freed she offered help so he could sit up, until she ended up supporting most of his weight as he tried to stand up on shaking legs. Both looked at Temp waiting for instructions on what to do next.

"I cannat let ya go, Missus."

"Really? Who is going to stop us? You?" Temp said looking him up and down.

"There are more guards in here. Ya can't go far."

"That's what we're about to find out."

"You ain't got no guts to use that gun, kid. You're just that, a kid." Jed tensed up, ready to jump Temp intending to struggle for the gun, but Temp read his body language and narrowed her eyes.

"Really?" She pointed the gun down and shot his leg. As the blood splattered around them, Jed fell on his knees with his both hands holding the gushing wound, wailing in pain that radiated from the gash up to his leg and spine.

"YOU BITCH!" Jed screamed. "I cannat believe you shot me."

Temp cocked the gun again and gestured to Sarah to help Jimmy out of the room. "I have more bullets and you have another leg, so shut up and suck up, buster."


	78. Run like hell

**_a/n: Hello my dearies, I'M BACK! Sorry it took me so long to update this monster, but I was window shopping for a beta. _**

**_My neverending thanks for the lovely EMTGreek who, besides having great taste in books, is an enthusiastic proofreader. Thanks! Thanks! Thanks._**

**_Now back to the story. Where were we? Oh yeah! Rescue mission full steam ahead. Get ready to run like hell!  
><em>**

**_SOUNDTRACK FOR THIS CHAPTER: Two steps from hell: Run like hell find it on youtube  
><em>**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Chapter 78: Run like hell<em>**

After immobilizing Jed with zip ties, the three youngsters rushed out of the dungeon from hell as they had no wish to be there just in case someone else had heard the fired shot. They slithered out the room, looking up and down the corridor trying to decide which way to go.

Jimmy shivered lightly, suffering from the beating and the blood loss of the shallow cuts the psycho made on his skin. Shock wasn't very far away, but that was a privilege that they had no time to indulge.

"So, ladies," he gasped, his unfocused gaze on the gun in Temp's hand. "Where to?"

Temp took the chance to looking him over, grimacing at his state and deeply aware that she wasn't much better. Right now she was working on pure adrenaline. She gulped as she stared to her left, before glancing to her right, seeing the apparently endless corridor with flickering lights as far as the eye could see.

"I think we should go right." Sarah suggested, pointing to the said side.

"We've come from the right wing." Temp added.

"At least we would know the way." Sarah shrugged, biting her lower lip and rubbing her arms, feeling cold all over.

The two girls looked towards the right and were ready to start walking in that direction when the distinct popping sound was heard coming from that corner beyond the locked doors. The two girls shared scared looks and grabbed Jimmy by his arms, literally dragging him in the opposite direction.

"What?"

"Left it is."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Three floors up, the federal agents and marines had found the first waves of resistance, which soon resulted in a shootout with the heavy armed guards. The marines once again showed their superiority literally taking down each guard they've met in their way. This way, the agents followed in a second wave clearing room by room they walked by.

Once they reached the stairs for the next floor, they found another corridor similar to that one, but this one had precarious lightning and all doors were locked, giving an eery feeling to the place. The agents started walking down the corridor, Tony stopping before one of the doors and stepping on the tip of his toes trying to look inside.

"I think they are empty," He muttered, trying to open the door and finding it locked.

"Let's keep going," Morgan said, his hand firmly holding his gun as he followed the marines.

"These rooms are strange." Prentiss muttered, noticing the electronic locks at each door. "I think this is part of the new additions Garcia mentioned they've done to the place.

Reid walked in fast steps and stopped before one of the doors, looking through the small window and trying to get a glimpse of what was inside. He saw something moving in the shadows and gulped.

"Ah... guys? These are not rooms." Reid took a step back and drew his weapon just when the noise of a loud thump happened on the door he had peeked through, making everyone jump and point their weapons to the door.

"What the hell is that?"

"These rooms are cells…"

"Cells for what?"

"Cells for whom?"

Reid had no answer to that.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Boss? I've given remote access to Garcia."

McGee glanced up from the laptop as he saw the magic done by Garcia and Abby happening on his screen. He left the station and grabbed his own gun, eager to leave the girls to do the heavy hacking directly from the safety of the base.

"Do they have access to everything?"

McGee nodded to Johnny, who signaled to one of his marines to check the corridor.

"Let's move out."


	79. Desert Runner

_**Soundtrack of this chapter: Desert Runner  
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><p><em><strong>Chapter 79: Apocalyptic bad<strong>_

"What the hell is this?" Garcia muttered as she dug around the systems of the psych hospital complex.

"Found something interesting?" Hope asked without taking her eyes from her own screens.

"McGee told me to check these files but I don't think I have the necessary knowledge to make head or tails of these formulas."

Abby looked over Garcia's folder, her green eyes studying the DNA swirling in the screen. She pointed to one image among the many displayed in the redhead's screen. "But I do. Can you magnify this for me, please?"

"Better yet, I'm going to put it into the big screen over there." Garcia transferred the image to the huge LED panel in front of them.

The three ladies stood up to look at the enhanced image, showing an oval form with a long rectangular structure inside, carefully protected by a protein based envelope.

"Good God, this is bad." Abby muttered.

Garcia looked at her, frightened. "How bad?"

"Apocalyptic bad." Abby somberly added.

Hope wasn't following the conversation, and she had no idea what she was looking on the screen. "What are we looking at?"

"We gotta call Gibbs." Abby sat down and started typing, reviewing the data streaming in her screen and cringing at each new document popping and adding more terror to her heart.

"Abby, what's that?" Hope insisted, pointing to the screen.

Abby sighed, "That's a sample of smallpox virus."

Hope shook her head, not believing the fact at hand. "That can't be. This disease has been eradicated in the seventies."

General Stevens, who had been just observing the strange trio at work, immediately jumped into the conversation, a deep frown marring his features as he glanced at the screen.

"To be more precise, in 1979. The last known documented case was resultant of an outbreak in a lab in England in 1978, while the last patient officially declared with the disease outside a lab environment occurred in 1977."

"But what is that doing in their computers?" Garcia dug around and more and more paperwork popped in her screen mentioning the damn virus and its research.

Abby moaned. "The problem is not that. According to this timestamp, this image was made from a live sample just three days ago."

"And that's bad because…" Garcia left her question in the air.

General Steven calmly explained, seeing the building panic in the redhead's eyes. "There are only two known centers with active Variola virus samples. Both are overseen by the WHO and tightly controlled by their own governments. One is in Russia and the other is here, right in our backyard, in Atlanta."

"Any chance that they could have been stolen somehow?" Hope asked the General, who shook his head. Abby was almost jumping with nervous energy as she downloaded file after file of information from the hospital servers.

"It's possible but highly improbable. These things are kept under lock and key, with guards and dogs growling at anyone who tries to get close to them. It's practically impossible to break through their security and access the samples. Besides that, you would need to safely contain it and transport it, which would be a nightmare on its own."

Hope said to General Stevens, seeing his normally somber façade shatter a little. "So if they have the images, they have live specimens."

"Yes and that's what can go apocalyptic bad, in your colleague's words. There's been concern in some political circus that smallpox could be deliberately released to cause harm."

"How?"

General Stevens added, "Biological warfare. Instead of coming in with guns and bombs, just infect the population with a high mortality rate disease and just wait until the corpses start piling on the floor. Considering that thirty percent of the infected people die within the 5th and 7th days of clinical infection, we might be facing a major epidemic."

"But aren't people vaccinated against it?" Garcia was appalled at the scenario being presented by the General, and deeply worried about her dear babies exposed to such terrible danger in that crackpot hospital.

"They can be vaccinated as long as the disease is identified and the person inoculated during a period of up to four days after a person has been exposed to the virus. After that, it won't be effective. Besides all that, potential complications arising from side effects of smallpox vaccination have raised concerns about what the best vaccination strategy could be. 1 in 800 people have some sort of side effect, and 1 in 1-million recipients die from complications."

Garcia visibly slumped in her chair before the bad news. "That's bad."

"Apocalyptic bad." Abby insisted, still typing.

Hope asked, eager to go back to work. "What do we do now?"

"We have to warn them and under no hypothesis they should try to open these doors here." Abby pointed a series of psychiatric cells in the third, fourth and fifth floor of the building.

"Why?"

"Because according to these files here," Abby pointed to several documents she was now plastering in the screens, most of them doctor/patient files, detailed information on inoculation, weight, vital signs, age, sex and symptoms. "Those are the cells where their test subjects are being kept."

"Test subjects?"

"Yes. They are testing it… in humans."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

Fire shots erupted between the agents and the guards, which seemed to pile out of the rooms and do their best to keep the agents and marines back. Under fire, they held their ground and did their best to keep the enemy at bay.


	80. The three musketeers…

**_Chapter 80: The three musketeers…_**

As the shots became closer and closer, Temp, Jimmy and Sarah became even more frantic in their eagerness to get out of the building. They scrambled down the stairs and found another floor, ducking here and there into empty rooms as people run by their position trying to reach the main focus of the fight a couple of floors up.

They scurried down the corridor, aware that their escape was on the line, and when they heard the sound of approaching steps they once again tried every door in close reach. One big sealed door at the end of the corridor opened when Sarah pushed at it, so she waved frantically at the two others so they piled into the room a couple of seconds before five men scrambled up the stairs holding pistols and tackled the next flight of stairs, rushing to the next level.

Temp and Jimmy looked nervously out of the room through the small glass slit on the thick door, watching the danger go away. Sarah, in the other hand, took a deep breath and looked around the room, freezing when her eyes fell on the equipment spread out over every single surface of that place.

"Ah… guys?"

"Do you think there will be more of them?" Temp kept her gun ready, just in case one of the soldiers became detached of their unity and came into their direction.

"I think so. They are being invaded. Do you think it's your family doing?" Jimmy puzzled, out of breath for his wounds and his physical effort.

"Maybe. Or maybe Gibbs has tracked us down and is coming with all guns ablazing to our rescue."

"Ah.. guys? A minute here, please?" Sarah called them again, this time louder.

"What Sarah?"

"Ah… I think we're in trouble." Sarah said in a soft voice.

Both Jimmy and Temp exchange a worried look and turn around, both gasping as their eyes land in the several tons of top of the line equipment spread out on every surface of the makeshift lab. There were Mass Spectrometres and electronic microscopes side by side with several other equipment pieces both Jimmy and Temp recognized but meant nothing to Sarah's non scientific mind.

"Oh man."

"What is this place?" Sarah asked as she approached the middle counter, where piles of papers and CDs fought for space against a computer keyboard and several medical books.

"Who are you?" A short man in a doctor's coat came from a glass door in the back, approaching the three youngsters in fast steps. "Who gave you clearance to come in here?"

Temp immediately pointed her gun at him, stopping his approach immediately. "This is my clearance. What is this place?"

"Ah…" The scientist glanced briefly to the left, where Temp guessed there would be either a panic button under the counter or a gun in one of the drawers.

"Do. Not. Move." Temp growled as she took a step closer to the scientist. "Keep your hands where I can see them and don't touch anything."

"You're going to regret this, young lady."

"Ah… I bet I will." To the other two people, Temp pointed with her head to the computer station on the middle counter blinking with the screensaver on of a tropical sea full of fish. "Jimmy, check his last files and try to figure out what he's been working on. Sarah, see those piles of DVDs over there? Try to find a bag or something to pile them into it. We're going to take it with us."

"What? You can't do it!" The scientist was choleric, his face becoming red all the way to his fading hairline. His clear blue eyes bristled behind his thin glasses and spit flew out as he shouted at Temp. "This is my life's work!"

"And what do you do, Doc?"

Jimmy hurried to the workstation and immediately settled down to work, but he squinted at the computer screen as the blood loss, pain and the marching band playing bagpipes in his head weren't helping him concentrate enough so he could read the lines.

He kept digging around, before he finally looked again at the doctor and smiled.

"Are you nearsighted or farsighted?"

"What?" The scientist glared from Temp to Jimmy.

"He asked you a question and if you value your life, you will answer it." Temp asked without taking her aim out of the scientist cowering in the corner.

"Ah… nearsighted."

"Good." Jimmy grabbed the scientist's glasses and, without further ado, tried it on. He blinked a little but finally he shrugged at Temp. "It's better than nothing."

"Good. Can you access their files?"

Jimmy kept his eyes on the screen, typing and downloading the data rolling in the screen into a pendrive so they could take it with them. Meanwhile Sarah had found somewhere in the back a canvas backpack and was stuffing cds and dvds in it.

"I think I can. I can see that they have tried to enhance the envelop structure of some kind of virus, making it stronger against normal vaccination and more deadly when in contact with the population."

"Do you know which virus he is working on?"

Jimmy groaned as a particularly sore muscle was pulled as he moved, but ignored it as terrifying image appeared on his screen. He gulped and glanced at Temp, who also looked terrified at it before approaching menacingly the scientist.

"Are you out of your mind? Working on that is illegal without express CDC authorization! And even then only in their biologically contained environment inside their offices in Atlanta!"

"This is going to be the last stand of the Master. You will all fall and finally we will rule the world."

"You bloody stupid fool, we will fall but _so will you_. That thing is deadly! It has killed more people alone than all wars put together in the whole history of mankind. What makes you think you could survive such epidemic outbreak?"

The mad scientist just smiled, his hands resting behind his head and sorely pissing off both Jimmy and Temp.

"They must have a vaccine." Jimmy finally muttered, his attention going back to the workstation and working even more frantically than before. "They wouldn't risk such outbreak if they hadn't found a way to inoculate their own little group ensuring their survival once the disease was unleashed."

"Can you find it in their system?"

"That's what I'm looking for now."


	81. Confrontation

_a/n: Sorry for the delay in posting this._

_I was shopping for a new beta. Thanks GreekEMT for accepting the role._

_News alert: After the 2012 purge, I decided to edit and revise my stories before posting them again in other sites beside FF NET. So don't be surprised in seeing some changes in the older stories as I'm revisiting them all.  
><em>

_Now all my fics will be available at Archive of Our Own as well as thewriterscoffeeshop besides good old NFA archive. You could follow me in Twitter WriterKos or in Facebook: Writerkos fanfiction for info on updates or general chat. _

_Now let's rescue them!_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 81: Confrontation<strong>_

The sound of the fight happening in the upper floors reached Mara, who growled and walked in hurried steps towards the door where she would be just a security code away from her escape route to the basement, and from there, to the boat house a few yards away from the main building.

The tunnel had been specifically designed to serve as a quick escape in case the premises were invaded. A high speed boat fueled and ready to go was always kept ready just in case of any unforeseen difficulties, and this unexpected invasion really matched that.

She had reached the middle of the corridor when the door leading to the stairs opened and agents and marines piled out, coming from the lower floors. Right in the front line were Hotch, Rossi and JJ, who immediately recognized Mara but not her hostage.

"Freeze, FBI!"

Mara answer was swift: she raised her gun and started firing at the agents, who had to duck back to the stairs are as they had no good shot as the woman held a child as a human shield.

"You're surrounded, Mara. Drop your weapon!"

"You. **Will**. Not. **Win!" **Each word was punctuated with a bullet flying towards the agents, who signaled to the marines to hold their fire as they did not wish to hit the child.

She paused long enough to reach one of the doors to her left, where she punched a code and rushed in, dragging the child with her. She immediately locked it and ran to the end of the room, trying to access a backdoor towards her escape.

Once they saw Mara going into the room, the agents spread out and, as the door closed, they cautiously approached it in order to follow the runaway killer. One of the marines approached the door and tested it, signaling that it was locked from the inside. There was no handle, the only way in was through the electronic lock.

"Kitten, we need you here." Rossi said in his radio.

"Talk to me, my fearless leader."

"Are you already in their system?" Rossi glanced at Hotch, who stared at the door almost without breathing, totally focused on the task of taking that bitch down.

"Yes, we have complete access to their servers as we speak. They have some really nasty surprises behind the doors of the third, fourth and sixth floor so please, my pretties, keep away from them."

"What kind of nasty surprises?"

"They've been genetically altering smallpox virus in order to create a stronger, deadlier and nastier strain, which would be immune to inoculation and cause a high death percentage if released to the public." Abby added, butting in into the communication.

"We've already warned Gibbs and Morgan's teams, so you are the last to be warned. Take care."

"Garcia, we're in the second floor." Hotch looked up at the door identification. "We need you to open the door 204."

"Door 204, 2-0-4…" Garcia kept typing frenetically, accessing the system regarding that floor. "Oh… that's one of those doors with the crappy electronic locks."

"Exactly, our unsub has just locked herself behind it and she has a hostage, a child. Can you open it?"

"I can try, but it might take a while."

"Just do it, Garcia."


	82. Flight instinct

_News alert: After the 2012 purge, I decided to edit and revise my stories before posting them again in other sites beside FF NET. So don't be surprised in seeing some changes in the older stories as I'm revisiting them all.  
><em>

_Now all my fics will be available at Archive of Our Own as well as thewriterscoffeeshop besides good old NFA archive. You can also follow me in Twitter WriterKos or in Facebook: Writerkos fanfiction for info on updates or general chat. _

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 82: Flight instinct<br>**_

Mara dragged the little girl down the room until she reached another door, inputing a code and rushing to the new room. She threw the little girl to the floor and turned around to slam the door shut, aware that it was just a matter of time until they could breach the two doors. She then grabbed the little girl's arm, her nails digging in the soft flesh and leaving the imprints of the fingers as she moved to the next access panel, typing a password to open the access door to the door leading to her escape route.

She froze as she heard the sound of kicking and punching on the outer door, dropping the little girl and pointing her gun to the locked door. But her security measures held firm and no agent broke into the room yet.

The little girl whimpered and massaged her tingling skin, feeling the imprint of Mara's nails and fingers in her skinny arms. She briefly glanced at Mara's legs, her gaze sliding up her polished leather boots all the way up to her thighs, a thin fishnet covering pale skin before more leather covered her hips and thin torso. The little girl bit her lip as she considered her options, afraid of being hurt but also aware that this might be her only chance of escaping the evil lady.

Mara punched the code and the door opened, the seal hissing as it depressurized. As soon as the door opened a small gap the little girl took her chance, kicking Mara in her most vulnerable point: her ankle, destabilizing her from her high heel shoes and, despite her desperate attempts to break the fall, she gained momentum and fell on her side right on her gun arm, losing its grip and letting it fly several feet away.

Mara moaned in pain and surprise. The little girl, seeing that her Goliath had fallen, scrambled on her legs and ran through the gap of the door, slamming it closed and sealing it again, effectively gaining a few seconds as she ran as quick as her short legs could take her down the corridor. Once she reached the stairs, she stumbled and held firm on the handrails, skipping here and there and finally reaching the next floor. She didn't even hesitate, she ran down the next flight of stairs, aware that she needed to needed to get away as fast as possible from that woman.

However, as soon as she reached the next floor, she heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming up. She looked around desperately, finding the exit door leading to the main corridor on her left. She ran to it, struggling with the fire resistant door, pushing the transversal bar down and opening it.

She disappeared down the corridor right at the moment Johnny, Gibbs and McGee, surrounded by their team of marines reached her floor. The only tip that gave away that someone had been there was the soft click of the fire resistant door.

Gibbs pointed to the door and Johnny signaled with his hand, asking for silence as he approached it. With his gun drawn, he took position and gestured to one of his marines to take point. They kicked the door open, their guns drawn and pointed to the corridor that was surprisingly empty.

There was just the click of the door at the end of the corridor leading to the open yard sliding shut.

The sound spurred action from the Marines, who immediately went on alert and slowly advanced on the corridor, checking door by door and, when they cleared the floor, rushed out in the yard trying to find the source of the disturbance of the force.

As Gibbs, John and McGee reached the yard after the marines, they studied the area carefully, until Gibbs spotted a small outline in the faint light moving towards the waterline.

"Over there!"

The chase was on.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"I did it." Garcia shouted at the exact moment the display in front of Rossi and Hotch beeped, indicating the input of the correct code.

The agents and the marines broke into the room, immediately sweeping it looking for any source of threat. Finding none, they advanced into it towards another sliding door at the end of the empty office space. They approached with care, aware that Mara was armed and dangerous.

They found no handle on it, just another electronic lock with a blinking led display.

"Garcia, there's another lock in here." Rossi muttered in his radio.

"I know, I'm working on it."

Yet they still lost precious minutes until the door beeped open. When they breached that new room, all they found were white tables and several archives and no sign of their target. At the corner of the room, there was just a door standing ajar, but they had no way of knowing how long ago Mara had escaped.


	83. Mara's last stand

_News alert: After the 2012 purge, I decided to edit and revise my stories before posting them again in other sites beside FF NET. So don't be surprised in seeing some changes in the older stories as I'm revisiting them all.  
><em>

_Now all my fics will be available at Archive of Our Own as well as thewriterscoffeeshop besides good old NFA archive. You could follow me in Twitter WriterKos or in Facebook: Writerkos fanfiction for info on updates or general chat. _

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 83: Mara's last stand<br>**_

Johnny, Gibbs, McGee and their team of marines spreaded out in formation in the yard, trying to catch a glimpse of their fleeing target. They were soon in the open stretch running towards the boathouse they had first landed, its wooden platform stretching several yards into the rushing waters of the river.

There were two boats moored on it, softly bobbing up and down in the waves. Their wooden surface was darkened by age and exposure to the elements, its bottom covered with a couple of inches of rainwater from the previous storm.

They had a clear view of their target when she slipped on the mud, falling face first on the ground. She stumbled on its feet and kept running, as if sensing the marines on her tail.

Finally Gibbs' knee reminded him of his years and he got fed up with this cat and mouse chasing.

"Freeze, Federal Agents!"

They gathered a few yards away when the small figure stopped at the door of the boathouse, trembling violently under the cold and the soft drizzle still falling after the storm they had faced to reach the property.

There was only a small naked bulb hanging from the ceiling of the boathouse, its faint light barely able to break the shadows that covered the trembling figure, who slowly turned around and looked at them with pure terror shining in her eyes.

The three men froze in their positions as they found terrified green eyes in a tiny dirty face staring at them. She was covered with mud all over, her hair was a mess of twigs and leaves and her thin cotton dress was in no way able to protect her from the cold and the drizzle of the night.

"What the hell…?" John muttered, his gaze studying the little child before them.

McGee gulped as his eyes met her terrified gaze, her green eyes so similar to his own staring at him filled with unmitigated terror. Her gaze moved nervously from his face to his gun, so he slowly lowered his weapon and immediately noticed how she slightly relaxed at this.

"Hey, we're the good guys." He said in a soft voice, taking a step closer and noticing how she shuddered and took a step back, towards the wooden platform. "We're not going to hurt you."

Johnny saw a glimpse of movement and had only a second to move, jumping on top of McGee. "GUN!"

"BUT I WILL!" Mara shouted, springing out of boathouse and grabbing the little girl by her hair, using her as a human shield and firing at the agents and marines in rapid succession.

McGee gasped under Johnny's weight, his side hitting hard the ground and his face diving into the dirt and the mud. The popping sounds came in quickly, the marines scrambling around trying to take cover as Mara opened fire against them. They heard a gasp and the sound of a body falling on the floor, but they couldn't immediately recognize it as Johnny was still on his knees dragging McGee towards safety.

Once they were behind one of the parked cars of the yard, Johnny glanced back and saw Gibbs being dragged to safety by two marines, his leg bleeding profusely and a grimace of pain on his face.

McGee gasped out of breath and rubbed the mud and dirt away of his face, his eyes frantically trying to identify who had been hit. His heart constricted as he saw the blood on his team leader's leg.

"BOSS!"

"I'M FINE. Get the girl to safety!"

At that moment there was a break in the shootout while Mara loaded the gun again and dragged the girl towards one of the rotten boats moored on the docks. Her left heel had been broken when the little girl tripped her, so when she reached the safety of her escape tunnel she had cracked the other one so she wouldn't limp in her dead run in the underground path towards the boathouse. Her grip on the little girl's arms was bruising, her anger at the situation building to never seen before levels.

"You will all pay for this!"

She reached the first boat and threw the kid onto the floor, leaning over and working on the ties that kept the boat moored to the platform.

The main doors of the hospital opened and Hotch, Rossi and JJ piled out of the building, soon followed by their tight group of marines. They rushed to the direction they had heard the shots being fired, finding the first strike team taking cover as Mara took shots at them, all the while working on the rope and keeping the girl as a shield.

"MARA!" Hotch shouted, just to duck behind one of the vehicles when she started shooting at them as well.

"You can't win!"

"You are surrounded, Mara. Give up now! Let the girl go and we can negotiate your terms."

"Negotiate? I don't negotiate with the likes of you! You will all pay!"

"Mara Sinclair, you are under arrest," Gibbs shouted from his hiding place, grimacing at the tight bandage a marine had just made around his leg.

"Please, I've expected better from you." She sunk her fingers on the little girl's shoulder, pressing her against her flat chest as she turned the nozzle of her gun to the muddied face of the little girl. "Do you really expect me to go down without a fight?"

McGee took a peek from behind the car he was hiding to look at Mara and he couldn't help thinking that Mara wasn't hard to look at. DiNozzo would certainly hit on her if he ever crossed his path with her in the street and if he were completely unaware of her psychopathic tendencies.

"Walls are not jails for us when the mind is free of these mortals boundaries."

Hotch and Rossi took position, gesturing to JJ to join the other marines in a half moon formation pointing their guns to Mara.

"Drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head. We mean you no harm." Hotch said in a soothing voice, his gun never wavering from the psychopath.

"Of course not. You never do." She smiled placidly, never moving her aim from the little girl's head.

"Surrender, Mara. We know of your plans and we won't let you go through them. Our people is right now canvassing your property and we won't rest until every single person in your little project is arrested and behind bars. There's nowhere to run now." Rossi shouted to her.

"Why should I run? I finally hold what by rights should have been mine. I am finally what my father chose me to be, a vessel to the Master's will. And I took my vengeance against she who stole my position as Servant. She was never worthy of it. She never understood how important she could become. She could have become one like the Gods, given a power beyond the understanding of man. But thanks to that little twerp my father was arrested and stolen from me. She and all those she loves deserve to suffer for what was done to me."

Suddenly her manners changed, her face became an ugly mask of anger as she growled at the agents. Her voice changed, taking a deeper and darker tone.

_"You can't win. You rush in here and think that this is over. You can't stop the Master."_

"We can and we will," Hotch said, slowly approaching the woman from the right side of the platform while Johnny and McGee approached her on her left. "There's no escape from us, Mara."

_"Mara is but a vessel. An useful innocent. When her usefulness is gone, she will be disposed off. Your walls and your binds cannot stop me."_

"But we can stop your vessels. One at a time." McGee said, staring into Mara's face, whose face turned to look at him with a cruel smile.

"Ah... the brave knight. The silly creature who dared to defy me. My father told me all about you. Your protectors might have spared your loved ones we had in our grasp but they can't be everywhere all the time. My claim will be fulfilled and as you are here celebrating your victory blood will be shed into my hands." Mara laughed, the sound echoing in the air and grating each agents' ears.

McGee firmed his aim at Mara's, "Not if we stop you."

"She will bleed and dieeee!" Mara shouted, before lifting her gun and aimed it at McGee. "So will you!"

However before any agent could take a shot at the crazy woman, they've felt a slight vibration in the air and the hairs of their arms rose as energy crackled in the air with static electricity.

The ground started shaking and the roar of engines suddenly filled the air, making the agents and marine bow over their bodies as a whirlwind blew over all of them as a strange triangular shaped thing suddenly materialized in low altitude over the wooden platform, emitting a sonic boom which made all of them cringe.

Mara and the little girl looked up, stupefied before the strange apparition, their eyes big round saucers as the ship hovered above them. The little girl struggled in an ever growing panic, scratching Mara's arm trying in vain to escape of her clutches.

The insane woman's gaze became petrified as the humming ship lowered a few yards in the air and lit a spotlight directly on her position, the luminescence blinding her momentarily and making her take a step back on the wooden platform.

As her high heel boots had both heels broken in her desperate run from the building complex and thanks to the fact she was at the very edge of the water, she missed the wooden planks, hitting only air and in a mess of arms, legs and screams, both she and the little girl fell in the river, being swallowed by dark waters below.


	84. Beware the Angry Autopsy Gremlin

**_Chapter 84: Beware the Angry Autopsy Gremlin  
><em>**

Jimmy's blue eyes were fixed on the document right before him, his lips moving soundlessly as he read the contents in it. Meanwhile Sarah finally closed her duffel bag with all the possible pen drives, cds and dvds at reach, anything that might be used to help create an antidote to the plague that doctor had created. Temp had taken one look at the doctor and, after going through some drawers, found some thin silicon strings she used as rope to tie the doctor's hands with firm knots.

"You can't stop us!"

"I've just done it."

"Temp," Jimmy called out over his shoulder, his eyes not moving from the screen. When she was by his side, he said. "I think I've found it. It's in the fridge number three."

He pointed to the huge refrigerators in the back of the lab, each labeled with a number on top.

"Okay. Sarah!"

Sarah popped her head out of the computer, her pale face looking from Jimmy to Temp.

"You called?"

"Yep, come here."

The younger McGee came around the table and when she was in arms reach Temp gave her the gun, firming her slack fingers around the grip and putting her finger on the trigger.

"You point this thing at that scumbag." Temp ordered Sarah pointing a thin scratched finger at the crazy doctor. "If he twitches, you shoot him. You get it?"

"Ah.. but…" Sarah tried to get away but Temp's firm grip on her hands didn't let her go.

"Sarah, he's a terrorist. He was working in a deadly virus making it even more deadlier. If he gets out of here and somehow releases his virus millions of people will die. So, if he moves, you shoot. His life was forfeit the moment he planned the annihilation of the human race."

"But…"

"No buts." To Jimmy, Temp said. "I'm going to look for a sealed container in his lab. Keep making copies of his records, we will need it to deliver it to CDC."

"Consider it done."

Temp left the two behind as she breached the inner lab, running to the Hazmat gear hanging from a wall and struggling to put the thick protective gloves with shaking fingers. She looked around, finding a small icebox sitting in a corner. She rushed to it, opened and saw that it was fully sealable. She ran to a small fridge and grabbed a pack of ice, before returning to the icebox and filling the bottom of it. Once she was satisfied with her work, she grabbed a breathing mask from the Hazmat gear hanging from the wall and put it on, before approaching the door of fridge number three.

With shaking hands she opened it, finding row after row of 15ml centrifuge tubes neatly organized in color-coded racks.

"Ahh… Jimmy?" She shouted.

"Yeah?"

"Which one is the vaccine? Ah… there are too many in here!"

"According to this, drawer 4C."

"Okay," she turned her attention to the fridge. "Drawer 4C… Drawer 4C… ah… here it is."

She slid the blue rack filled with centrifuge tubes out of the drawer, taking great care to not let any of its contents fall. Once it was in her hand, she walked in hurried steps towards the icebox and deposited it there. Once it was accommodated to her content, she ran back to the fridge and collected another rack. Then another rack, until she filled the small icebox with samples of the vaccine. She checked if she had everything before sealing the container, zipping it so its contents would be protected from jostling too much.

When she left the inner lab, Jimmy was already shutting down the computer and Sarah still kept the crazy doc under the aim of her gun. He disconnected the pendrive and left it on the table.

"Ready to roll?" She asked holding the precious icebox in her arms like a little baby.

"Not yet." Jimmy walked to Sarah and silently asked her for the gun.

Once he had it in his hands, he pointed it to the computer and fired twice, inutilizing the hard drive. The sound hurt their ears in the contained space of the lab, making the both girls jump.

"Now we're ready."

Jimmy took the pendrive from the table and stuffed it in his pocket, walking to the doctor and grabbing him by his arm. He dragged him to his feet, pushing him towards the door indicating that they were leaving. Sarah ran to the duffet bag and put the strap around her shoulders, following Jimmy and Temp out of the lab.

"I'm not leaving with you." The doctor tried to halt their advances, but Jimmy was at his last tether already.

He's been hounded, tricked, hurt, tortured, cut and now the lives of thousands were at stake thanks to that sorry excuse of human being who had used his knowledge of science and medicine to create a plague which could wipe a good fraction of humankind. So, to make it simple and short, Jimmy was pissed off, and he was eager to kick someone's ass and it would probably be that jerk under his custody.

He pointed the gun to the man's chin and said in his most serious tone ever. "Ah, you will. You will not give us any heartache, you will walk out this room with us and help us escape and then maybe… maybe you won't be charged with treason and conspiracy for murder, torture and unlawful practice of medicine just to name a few of the charges we can – and will – bring over your head once we're out of this joint. **_So, don't say a word_**."

The doctor nodded gulping loudly as he saw the deadly intent on Jimmy's eyes. Once at the door they checked the corridor, finding no one in that floor. Jimmy gestured with the gun to the doctor, indicating that he should take the front. The three youngsters came out, then rushed the doctor towards the stairs leading to the lower levels.

They were almost at the doors when they burst open and several marines poured out of it, heavily armed and in black combat clothes. Screaming, the youngsters froze on the spot, Jimmy pointing the gun while Sarah used her tiny micro laser, both weapons puny and useless before the MKs and ARs the heavily armed men held.

"Stand down!" A familiar voice came from the back.

The marines lowered their guns as a tall man in the same black combat clothes came, followed by brunette in similar clothes, both very familiar to the three escapees.

"Sarah?"

"Tony?"

"Ziva?"

"Oh God..." Tony rushed to Jimmy' side as soon as he noticed the shaking on his gun hand. Sarah sobbed, being immediately engulfed in a rib breaking hug from Ziva as soon as she was in touching distance.

Morgan and Prentiss took the doctor in custody, guiding him away from the youngsters. Reid slowly approached Temp, noticing the care she was holding the icebox in her arms.

Temp looked frightened from Reid to Bob, her huge violet eyes jumping from one to the other.

"Hey, kiddo. What's in the box?" Bob asked gently, seeing her sorry state and how wired she was.

She approached him and deposited the box in his hands, the huge marine holding it with the same reverence she had held it.

"We've found the vaccine." She glanced then at Reid. "Can we pass out now?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

_"We have them."  
><em>  
>"Repeat please."<p>

_"Eagle one, we have them. The three golden eggs are with us. We're retreating now."  
><em>


	85. So it begins all over again

_**Chapter 85: So it begins... all over again  
><strong>_

_**Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment. - **_Napoleon Bonaparte

"**_NOOOOOOOoooooo_**." McGee screamed, his voice echoing in the night as he left his hiding place as soon as the Mara and the little girl fell on the water.

"Damnit, Luke!" Johnny growled at the radio, hearing a moment of static.  
><em><br>"Sorry, guys, just trying to help!"_Luke's electronic voice came on their comm radios.

"Can anybody see them?" Hotch asked as he joined the others running towards the river.

McGee ran towards the wooden platform, slipping and almost falling on the mud but kept his pace, until his feet reached the rotten wood. His heavy steps echoed on the planks, soon followed by Hotch's and Rossi's as they reached the very edge of the water.

There was no bubbles on the water, no sign of where the stream had taken them.

"Hold this." McGee offered his gun and radio to Hotch, starting to untie his Kevlar vest.

"McGee?"

"I'm going in." To the ship still hovering a few feet above their heads, "Luke?"

_"Yes, McGee."_

"I need light. As much light as possible. Focus on the downstream river and keep making transversal cuts in it."

_"You're on, Bro."_

McGee finally took his shoes off, grabbed the gun from Hotch's hand and ran, making a perfect swim dive and disappearing into the dark waters of the river below.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

Darkness.

Darkness was the only thing that he could see surrounding him and making him lose the ability to calculate dept and distance.

Here and there slits of light cut the darkness, giving him a faint idea of what was before him, guiding him as he sought his elusive targets. He felt the brush of the weeds and smooth river stones brushing his arm as he was taken by the current, his arms struggling to swim.

He felt the air burning in his lungs as he glanced to left, catching a glimpse of a child's pale arms struggling against the grasp of long fingers as light touched them for a second before they disappeared again under the veil of darkness.

With renewed vigor he swam towards them, kicking his legs against the current trying to reach the two struggling figures in the dark, being illuminated by faint rays of light coming from Luke's ship cutting the never-ending darkness that seemed to be a living thing swallowing them from all sides.

He reached the struggling duo, his hand going in a slow punch to hit Mara's face, momentarily stunning her and setting the little girl free from her psychotic clutches. The little girl, once freed, tried frantically to swim away from her. McGee grabbed the child's arm and pushed her up towards the surface, just to be attacked by Mara, who hit him with a stone on his chest momentarily stealing his breath and making him lose his breath.

Mara opened her mouth and release soundless shout of fury, tried to swim towards McGee, her fingers curved like claws as she advanced against him ready to rip his eyes out.

She stopped her advance, her chest dancing at the impact of bullets as McGee emptied the magazine of his Sig on her until his gun clicked empty. His chest and lungs burning, his last image of Mara was of her form slowly fading away in the swirling currents of the river being swallowed by the darkness.

He turned and started to kick towards the surface, feeling the current moving him quickly. He reached the surface and immediately gasped, filling his lungs with the so much needed oxygen. Desperate, he looked around, finding a limp form bobbing in the water a few yards away from his position. He swam towards it and moved it until he could raise the little girl's face from the surface of the water, keeping her head above the waterline as he started to swim to the river banks.

He faintly heard the shouts of Marines at the edge of the water, the splash of water as some of them jumped in it trying to reach him and alleviate him from his precious burden.

McGee struggled to keep the little girl's head above the waterline until he felt strong hands grabbing his arms and dragging him to the river banks. Shivering, he curled in fetal position with the little girl in his arms.

The little girl coughed and spit out water, her shaking cold arms tightly squeezing his neck, her breathing the only thing warm about her as it touched the skin of his neck.

He blinked rapidly as two marines tried to dislodge the little girl from him, but the little girl grunted and screamed, trying to bite them away. Still gasping, he waved them away and relaxed on the ground, the tiny little body shivering violently against his chest.

After a while her shivering abated and the little girl finally lifted her head from his neck, her pale green eyes meeting McGee's and shining with recognition. She smiled lightly before snuggling again into his embrace, muttering in a soft voice for his ears alone.

"I knew you would come for me."


	86. Family is reunited

**_Chapter 86: Family is reunited  
><em>**

The first strike force which hit the hospital ground on foot finally reached the main yard, having subjugated all guards between the gates and the yard in their slow advance. As they reached it they found the intense movement of marines coming in and out of the building with their prisoners, the bright spotlights of the two ships illuminating the whole yard.

Close to the boathouse, Gibbs was receiving the first aid help as the marines prepared him to be taken onboard. By his side, McGee was shivering under an old horse blanket Johnny had found somewhere in boathouse, his gaze never wavering from the little girl being checked by two marines with medical patches on their arms a couple of feet away. JJ was sitting with them, her arms around the little girl's shoulders and hugging her against her chest as she was submitted to their examination.

Hotch and Rossi approached them coming from the lake where a couple of marines were making a search, their gaze also sliding to the little girl being checked out.

"Who could have imagined that Mara had a child?"

"That's not her child." McGee said with conviction, still shivering lightly as he stood up and felt his legs almost folding from under his body. Hotch ran to his side, but the younger man seemed to recover his balance before he could touch him.

"How can you be sure of that?" Hotch asked, his eyes firmly on McGee who seemed to regain his land legs and stand straighter, his gaze still on the little girl.

"Because there wasn't a single maternal bone in that woman." He closed his eyes, a terrible possibility running through his mind making him shiver all over again. "Can you do me a favor?"

Hotch frowned at the younger man, "Sure."

"Can you check her back?"

Rossi gasped, immediately making the connection McGee had implied. "What? Are you thinking…"

"Joy said that there was a training program… people were trained to be servants." He pointed to little girl in JJ's arms. "And she fits the victimology"

Rossi exchanged a look with Hotch before leaving them and walking towards JJ and the marines. As he reached them, he knelt on the floor and started to talk in soft tones to the scared little girl in JJ's arms. Both McGee and Hotch observed as the little girl shivered and turned her back to Rossi, hiding her dirty face in JJ's chest while Rossi gently leaned over her body and took a peek of her back, gently removing the soaked cloth of her thin dress away from her skin. He exchanged a look filled with meaning with JJ before touching gently her matted hair praising the little girl for her bravery.

Once he stood up again, there were lines of pure despair marring his face when he silently nodded, indicating that their worst thoughts were true and that that little innocent child had suffered brutal torture by Mara's hand.

"I wish she is found alive." Gibbs growled, his hand squeezing his leg as he carefully set it down on the floor supported by one marine.

When both Hotch and McGee looked at him, he completed, "So I can at least have the satisfaction of shooting her."

Hotch had to force back a small grin, seeing the same sentiment mirrored in the younger NCIS Agent's face.

"We'll dredge the river. Follow the currents trying to see if we find her wounded or dead body somewhere upstream."

McGee shook his head, his gaze going back to the little girl now being softly talked to by Rossi, who was finally able to elicit a tiny smile from the little girl.

"Don't bother trying to look for survivors. She's dead."

"How can you be so sure?"

McGee looked at Hotch, a harsh glint in her eye as he looked at the BAU's leader and put his own kevlar vest over his wet clothes. "I've emptied my gun clip in her chest. Believe me, she's dead."

Johnny slowly approached them after combing the river banks, finding no sign of the missing psychopathic assassin. He gestured to his men to keep the search, never letting go of his firm grip in his AK as he studied their movements in the surrounding woods. "We're keeping the strike teams on the grounds until the teams of the CDC arrive. We've isolated the three floors were the test subjects are being held and they will all be transported in isolation towards their Atlanta Office."

"What about my sister?"

Johnny smiled, moving aside and letting McGee see Sarah, Jimmy and Temp being escorted out of the building by Tony, Ziva, Prentiss and Morgan, each youngster being supported by one or two older adults.

McGee stood up, his focus totally in his little sister being supported by Tony's arm around her waist.

"SARAH!"

The younger McGee looked around, finally letting go of Tony as her shaking legs got a new strength and she ran down the steps, her shoeless feet digging into the mud and dirt of the yard.

"TIM!"

He took a few steps just to be tackled down by his little sister, her body impacting his like a missile and tumbling both of them to the floor.

"She… she… oh… Tim! I was so scared!"

"It's okay. It's over. It's over now." He whispered on his knees on the mud of the ground, his voice muffed against her dirty and matted hair as she hid her face on his neck and finally let go.

He wrapped his arms around her torso, hearing her hiss as he touched her ribs and back.

"What's that?"

"She… she had us beaten, Tim."

Tim almost felt like crying, imagining the skin of his beautiful sister marred by the same terrible scars Joy had on her skin. Sarah glanced over her shoulder and Timothy followed her gaze, finding Ziva and Morgan supporting Temp and Jimmy, respectively, both youngsters barely able to keep up with their steps.

"They are in much worse state than me, Tim. She just punched and kicked me. That crazy lunatic used something called a Spear on Jimmy and Sarah."

McGee stood up and helped Sarah up as well, without taking his gaze from the youngest Buchanan and their autopsy gremlin. Jimmy looked like was ready to faint in any moment, but as soon as he reached McGee he stuck his hand in his pocked and picked something tiny inside, offering it to McGee.

McGee stretched his arm and opened his hand, so Jimmy could deposit whatever he had in his hand in it. A tiny pendrive dropped in his palm.

"What is this?"

"All their research about their work on the variola virus. We stole it from that creep over there." She pointed to the doctor being taken into custody by two marines.

Sarah pointed to a duffel bag being carried by Reid and an icebox held in Bob's hands. "We also stole samples and all the data we could find. Anything that might be useful to stop their plans."

Johnny, who had been listening the exchange in silence, allowed a little smile to grace his face as he imagined the three youngsters fighting their way with just their sheer force of will, trying to evade the guards and the marines fighting some floors upstairs.

"Good job, Jimmy." As soon as Johnny put his hand on Jimmy's shoulder, the youth's legs folded and he would have had a hard encounter with the ground if Tony's arms hadn't rushed to catch him.

"Gotcha ya, Jimmy."

"Ah… I wanna sleep." Jimmy muttered as soon as he laid his head on the older's man chest, shivering violently thanks to the pain and blood loss. He was just a thin line from fainting away and fading in the blessed nothingness.

"Ah, no. You're not sleeping until we have you checked out by Ducky." Tony struggled with the dead weight in his arms until a marine took pity of him and went to help him, taking the young wounded man as a broken doll and holding him easily in his arms.

Seeing the completely exhausted state of the three youngsters, Johnny gestured to Luke's ship. "Take them to the Falcon. We're leaving asap so they can receive medical attention at home."

Ziva then started guiding a stumbling Temp towards the lowered gates of Luke's ship and the Marine carried Jimmy easily, careful of his wounds and cuts. Tony threw a glance at Gibbs and rushed to his side, offering his support to his boss who, after grumbling a little, accepted it and started to hobble towards the stationed ship.


	87. A new danger lurks unseen

**_Chapter 87: A new danger lurks unseen_**

Watching the wounded being taken to safety, Timothy looked down and found his sister's bright eyes fixed on his face, a thin smile gracing her lips as she looked proudly at him.

"We survived, Timmy."

A guttural laugh escaped from his throat and a uncontrollable shaking dominated his muscles as all accumulated adrenaline from the last few hours since he had found out about the threat against his close family and the kidnapping of his sister and friends was suddenly dumped on his body, momentarily stealing his ability of control the involuntary spasms of his body.

Hiding his face against Sarah's dirt hair, for the first time since this whole nightmare had started he closed his eyes and allowed his emotions free reign, his arms tightening and shaking around his little sister's frame in an almost bruising force. A few moments later he let her go, both siblings unashamed of the tears of relief on their faces.

"Go with them, I'll be there shortly." McGee ordered and after a small tiny nod Sarah accepted Morgan's offered arm and slowly walked towards the lowered gates.

The small group was almost at the ramp when a piercing wailing of a child cut the air, making all remaining agents jump looking for its source. The little girl who had been up until then quietly accepting the ministrations of JJ and the marines somehow escaped their hold and ran towards McGee, screaming like a banshee as if all hounds of hell were on her tail.

She launched herself in his arms, still screaming, her voice piercing the air as she wailed brokenheartedly.

"Hey. Hey HEY." McGee juggled his hold on her, feeling her shaking violently against his chest. "What's wrong?"

"You have to go back!" The little girl wailed, her big green eyes overflowing with tears which were leaving tracks on her muddied face and leaving smudges on his black uniform.

"Back where?" Hotch asked, not following the little girl's confused ramblings.

"He's found her! You have to go back!"

Rossi glanced confused at Hotch, noticing the same puzzlement in the leader's face. "She's not making any sense."

She struggled away from McGee's arms so he gently dropped her on the ground so she could look at McGee, her tear filled gaze trying to transmit a message only he could understand.

"You have to go back!"

"Go back where?" Kneeling on the mud so he could be in the same height of the girl, McGee gazed into her face trying to understand her frantic message, but he was still missing the point she was trying to make. The little girl shook her head, her terrified eyes trying to transmit the urgency of her request.

"The _Destroyer_ knows where _she_ is. He's coming after _her_."

"McGee?" Gibbs called him out, aware of the burning feeling of danger which started to churn in his gut.

"The _Destroyer_?" McGee confirmed the info, seeing her nod vigorously.

"Don't you understand? _The Master will claim the youngest!_ You have to come back!"

Rossi pointed to the little girl, seeing the horror slowly spreading on his colleagues' faces as the girl repeated the exact words Swanson had told them in Chicago. "Wait a second, how do you know that? _Who told you that? Who knows that?"_

"Don't you see? He knows where _she_ is!"

Standing up, McGee looked around, feeling a tight band of steel squeezing his chest as million thoughts started colliding in his head in rapid sequence. His gaze went from Gibbs, whose face had changed to his impenetrable mask, and to Hotch, finding the slow comprehension inundating his dark eyes.

McGee turned then to Johnny, feeling an urgency burning in his chest as adrenaline started to flow in his veins again.

"Call the base."

Johnny tapped his radio, trying to patch through the airwaves so he could talk to the trio of women in the control room. He only got static, so he looked startled at McGee, worry slowly creeping into his face.

"I can't get through."

**_"Call the base now!_**" McGee shouted, urgency laced in his face as he glanced down at the little girl crying on his feet, her tortured eyes fixed on his.

"We're having some kind of interference. We can't get through."

"He's got her now." The little girl muttered, lowering her gaze to her feet, defeated.

A shiver run up everyone's spines, a strange sense of foreboding inundating their souls as they felt an approaching danger none had expected, so they had no preparation to fight against it. Against guns and bullets there were countermeasures to be taken, strategic plans to be made, but against something as immaterial as their present enemy they had no weapons they could fight.

_Oh, God, Joy!_

"Let's get going. Everybody on board. We're going back." Johnny gestured to his marines, who started to herd everyone towards the Falcon. "Come on, come on!"

Moved by a strong sense of urgency both NCIS and FBI agents rushed towards the lowered gates, helping the wounded up and buckling them to their trip home.

Johnny and Hotch helped Gibbs onto one of the chairs, gently positioning his leg straight so it won't jostled on the trip back. Jimmy, Temp and Sarah were taken by the agents towards the back of the ship, were they were laid on improvised cots so they could rest comfortably during the short trip home.

As soon as they had everybody on board Luke powered the engines, closing the gates and inputing the destination location in the ship's system. McGee dropped heavily on the copilot's seat, his worry about those left behind emanating out of every pore.

"Luke?"

"I know, man. I know."

There was a small trepidation before the gravity dampeners took over and stabilized the ship, which slowly started to ascend in a vertical line leaving the other ship and the marines scrambling around to secure the perimeter and wait for the CDC forces which would take over the operation and the premises.

Once in the air, the ship turned towards its destination, speeding away in a sonic boom and leaving no hint of its presence behind.


	88. Checkmate

**_Chapter 88: Checkmate_**

Back in Quantico, Abby jumped and shouted hugging Garcia, both women cheering up as they had just received the radio that Jimmy, Sarah and Temp had been rescued. Jimmy and Temp's condition were dire, needing greater medical attention so they were been carefully prepared to be transferred to the base as soon as possible.

Hope slowly took her headphones off and looked at Joy who was sitting at the back of the situation room with tears streaming down her face as she slowly purged all her fears and worries silently crying.

Hope frowned when Joy suddenly took a sharp intake of breath, her right hand immediately going to her middle touching her tummy. Hope stood up from her station and approached her sister, worry marring her beautiful face, "Hey kiddo, you okay?"

"They are fine, right?" Joy asked in a soft whisper, breathing in gasps.

"Yes. Jimmy was beaten pretty roughly and both Sarah and Temp were banged a little, but they are alive."

"Thank God." Joy blanched and couldn't help a moan of pain as a shark spike laced her abdomen, making her lean over herself.

"You don't look fine, Joy."

"I've been feeling this colic the whole day. It comes and goes. I think my period is about to come with a vengeance."

Hope touched her back and started to rub soft circles on it, attempting to comfort her. "Have you taken any medicine for endometriosis lately?"

Joy closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, trying to control the waves of pain irradiating from her womb to her body. "I've forgotten my usual pills back at home before all this mess started. But I've been taking some pretty heavy stuff that Ducky had prescribed for the nausea and the fever so I'm very doped up."

"Where are they?"

"Don't have any of them with me."

"I'll go get them with Ducky. He probably has something to help you out."

Throwing a worried glance at Joy, Hope left the room looking for Ducky in the infirmary. A few minutes later when she came back to the situation room she found only Abby and Garcia talking with General Stevens and some other Air Force officers.

"Where's Joy?"

Abby shrugged. "She had to go to the Ladies' room."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Only the noise of the open faucet filled the room as Joy leaned over the sink and washed her face with running water. She used her hand as a shell and brought some water to her mouth, in the vain attempt of washing out the bile taste away as she had again heaved on the bathroom stall just to let water and bits of crackers out.

She shivered as her body trembled despite the fever that was making her sweat, forcing her body to lose precious liquid she wasn't allowed to lose.

She got a paper towel wet and rubbed it on her neck and chest, between her breasts, in the vain attempt to lower her fever.

_"You really think this is over, Servant?"_

The unwelcome voice made Joy spin, staring at the person in the Ladies' room which made her heart beat faster.

"No. That can't be. You're in a prison in Detroit."

_"Ah..." _The ghostlike figure of Swanson approached her, making her take another step and touch the sink with her back_. "But walls were never a problem to us as we were trained to overcome our physical boundaries. You should remember that. You were trained as well."_

"No."

_"Astral Projection is a very powerful tool. It allowed me to visit Martha and Mara as they were outside during all these years, teaching them everything I knew as well as guiding them through their plans. I would find their targets and simply lead them to their slaughter. I was always with them. Always."_

She started gasping, feeling the pain in her tummy intensifying.

_"I've located every single traitor and told Mara where to take her hellhounds. I've watched delighted as my little girl made me very proud. She's even more vicious than her daddy."_

"Why are you here?"

_"Why?"_ Swanson threw his head and laughed as if she had said a big joke.

Joy moaned and fell to the floor, crawling away from the apparition in front of her towards the bathroom stalls. It slowly walked without making any noise on the floor as it approached the sick agent.

_"I came to claim the youngest."_

"You can't kill me. Not in this form. That's not how it works. And you've failed. My sister is fine, so is Jimmy and Sarah. You've failed."

_"Ah, but I've never said I would claim them, did I?"_ Swanson smiled and leaned over her as she gritted her teeth in pain, letting tears and gasps out as she stared at him.

_"I've said the youngest. They are **not **the youngest, are they?"_ Swanson's gaze fell on Joy's middle, which she was hugging in the faint attempt to ease her pain.

"What?" She asked, just to scream as she saw the ghost figure of her tormentor transform into a dark ugly creature with red eyes and stretch a black clawed hand towards her abdomen.

She felt a blinding pain as something snapped inside of her then she saw no more.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Hope frowned holding the medicines in her hands, as she walked towards the Ladies' room and met two ladies coming out of it talking about the latest gossip of the base. She opened the door with her shoulder and barged in, looked around, finding Joy nowhere to be seen.

A shiver of worry ran up her spine so she started checking each of the stalls worried as horrible images of her sister flashed before her eyes, dead, as she might have fainted while puking whatever was her stomach contents and maybe drowned in the water of the toilet basin.

Once Hope was sure Joy was nowhere to be seen, she really started freaking out.

Another officer came into the bathroom and Hope immediately pounced on her, "Have you seen my sister? She's brunette, long brown hair, brown eyes and very very pale. She was feeling sick and she ran to the bathroom..."

"No, but maybe she's in the one in the other side. Just go down the corridor and three doors down you have a smaller one. Have you checked it out yet?"

"No, thanks." Hope smiled at the agent and left the ladies' room, rushing towards the indicated door feeling the urgency stretching her nerves raw.

Something was wrong. Really wrong and she had to rush!

Once she reached the correct door, she was already running at full speed. She opened the door and entered the bathroom, looking around for her sister. She approached the sinks and the mirrors and felt all her body go rigid with fear.

Joy was lying unconscious on the cold floor, a pool of blood slowly coming from between her legs.

On the mirror, there was a message written in blood that someone obviously used the NCIS agent own blood to write against the reflective surface, making the scenario even more macabre.

Just two words.

**_I WON._**

"No, no, no..." Hope fell on her knees, unsure of where she should touch her bleeding sister. She gently touched her face and felt it clammy and feverish. "Help… _Help! **HELP!"**_


	89. Different definitions of bad

**_Chapter 89: Different definitions of bad_**

They had been flying towards the base for five minutes and still weren't able to communicate with anyone back home. Luke squeezed his fingers around the controls, feeling the vibrating nervousness which filled the air as the radio silence continued.

The little girl, who had been sitting again with JJ, shrugged off the comfort of the blonde lady and ran to McGee, moving his arms out of the way and struggling to sit on the lap of the surprised agent. He gulped as she settled down in his arms, her tiny arms going around his neck and squeezing it, her soft breathing caressing his skin as she burrowed her face in his chest.

"Hey," He caressed her hair lightly, until she arranged herself on his lap so she could look at his face. "What's your name?"

The little girl played with one of the Velcro straps holding his Kevlar vest in place. "Lynn, but the evil witch called me _little mouse, little white trash, useless piece of shi-"_

McGee had to interrupt her. "Okay, I get your drift. No need of repeating what that bad woman said."

The little girl shrugged, once again lowering her eyes to the Velcro.

"Where's your mommy?"

"Mommy went to sleep and didn't wake up. She was in the hospital where the evil witch's mother worked in a white uniform. When mommy didn't wake up the evil witch came and said she would take me to a home, but she took me to a dark place and kept me there."

McGee glanced towards Hotch, who nodded as he decoded the little girl's story. Her mother must have been a patient in one of the places where Martha had worked as a nurse. When she died – or was murdered, that was yet to be investigated – Martha contacted Mara, who was then probably working already as a social services officer. Under the pretext of taking the orphan to the foster system, she abducted the child and disappeared with her.

"Lynn is a beautiful name." McGee frowned as he remembered something. "When we came out of the river, you said that you knew I was coming for you. What did you mean by that?"

The little girl shrugged, not taking her eyes from his vest.

"Hey?" He used a finger to gently lift her chin, making her look into his eyes. "What did you mean by that?"

The little girl kept quiet, her gaze briefly going to a point over his left shoulder before going back to him.

"Lynn?"

She pointed vaguely to something over his shoulder. "He said you were coming."

McGee glanced over his shoulder, finding just empty space all the way to the wall etched with several glyphs in an alien language.

"Who?"

The little girl shrugged.

Johnny frowned as he watched the exchange, something scratching the back of his mind as he saw her mannerisms. There was something very familiar about it…

"Who said I was coming for you, Lynn?"

The little girl folded on his lap and looked to his left side, sighing loudly but not explaining what she meant.

"Hey!" Johnny finally figured out, standing and going to the two in the front. He stopped three feet away and waited until McGee looked at him with a curious glint in his eyes. "I've seen this before."

"What are you talking about?"

But Johnny's attention was totally focused on the little girl in McGee's arms. "Hey, kid, look at me."

After a little cajoling, the little girl turned and looked at Johnny, but he noticed that her gaze kept straying away to his left, as if something – or someone – was standing right by his side.

"Joy had the same tick when she came to live with us." Johnny muttered softly, noticing her glazed gaze did not waver from whatever was on his side. "What's his name?" Johnny asked softly, hearing a gasp of surprise of McGee as he finally figured out what the older Buchanan was implying.

Finally the little girl glanced at him, squinting a little as if measuring him. She glanced again at his side before looking at Johnny, muttering her answer in a whisper. "Scion…" Both Johnny and McGee gasped as she completed. "… his name is Scion."

"Good." He pointed to McGee's left, where she had looked before he had approached both the NCIS agent and little girl. "And what's his name?"

"Nathan."

Hotch and Rossi sat straighter in their seats, as Johnny pointed to each agent in the room and a new name popped out of her mouth.

"Caleb."

"Eliel."

"Motta."

"Ariel."

"Tara."

"Eloi."

McGee gulped as the little girl, tired, settled her head against his chest and closed her eyes. He exchanged a tired look with Johnny who shook his head before slowly going to the back of the ship, sitting down close to Hotch, Rossi and Gibbs.

"What was that?" Gibbs asked, grimacing as his leg pulled a little.

"It's happening all over again, isn't it?" Johnny looked at Hotch and Rossi, a defeated air on his face. "The nightmares, the night terrors, the inability of figuring out what's there and what isn't."

"I don't think it's so grievous as you think," Rossi muttered, noticing how the little girl settled against McGee's chest and fell asleep, held secure in the NCIS agent's arms. "You are not going in as blindly as you did in Joy's case. You've been in this situation before and prevailed. And somehow I think things will work out fine for all parties involved."

"What makes you say that?" Morgan asked, just to see Reid pointing with his chin to the little girl asleep in the NCIS agent's arms, her grip on him firm even in sleep. That didn't mean he held her with any slack: His grip on her was as firm as hers on him, his chin resting over her dirty and matted hair as his gaze was lost in the floating horizon outside.

Morgan felt a small smile gracing his lips, noticing the same satisfaction on his colleagues.

"At least something good will come out of all this mess." Hotch muttered.

There was some static and finally the chattering of the ladies in the radio popped in their intercom, making all agents sit straighter as finally communications were back.

"Hope, what the hell is going on? We've lost connection with you!" Luke

"Hope is not here." Abby said, her voice crackling a little in the air waves. "She went looking for Joy."

"Where is she? What happened to Joy?" McGee asked, just to puzzle at the calm reply he got.

"Nothing. She just went to the ladies' room." Garcia answered, exchanging a puzzled glance with Abby, who shrugged.

"Are you sure she's okay? Is she safe?"

"McGee, we're several floors underground in one of the most secure facilities in the U.S. Military. Who could possibly breach base security in order to make a direct hit against her within these walls?" Abby asked, her confusion at his desperation quite clear in her tone.

"I… I…"

At that moment Hope entered the situation room in hurried steps, almost tripping on her Jimmy Choos as she ran to the radio.

"Are they online?"

Abby and Garcia looked horrified at the blood on Hope's knees and hands, her lab coat coated with droplets as she extended shaking hands for the intercom.

"What happened?" Garcia whispered, just to freeze when Hope started talking.

"McGee, are you there?" Hope's voice cracked, her nerves shot to hell as she held her mike in bloodied shaking hands.

"Hope, what's going on?"

"McGee, you gotta come home."

"Hope, where is Joy?"

Hope closed her eyes but tears started falling unchecked, as the image of her bleeding sister blasted behind her eyelids.

"She was taken into emergency surgery." Hope barely heard the shocked gasps from Abby and Garcia. "I think… I think one or two of her chocolate cysts have just ruptured. She was feeling a growing colic in her pelvis for a while and … I found her unconscious in the bathroom a couple of minutes ago. Ah…" She touched her forehead, leaving a streak of blood on it. "They took her to the O.R. immediately, they are treating her hemorrhage but… it's bad. It's really bad."

"Oh God."

"Get back here. Immediately." Having said that, she put her headphones down and sat heavily on her chair, her shoulders heaving as she started crying brokenheartedly, the feeling of helplessness boiling in her chest and making her feel useless despite of all technology just at her fingertips.

Garcia and Abby exchanged horrified glances and ran to her side, each woman hugging one side of the blonde woman as her sobs became louder and louder, echoing in the room between the beeps of the high tech equipment that surrounded them.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Back in the ship, a sepulchral silence fell on the agents as the ramifications of what they had just heard was revealed. McGee felt cold all over, as all the information he had read on endometriosis splashed before his eyes and he remembered all the possible complications of a ruptured ovarian cyst.

Twisting of the ovary.

Sepsis due to the leakage of the cyst.

Hemorrhagic complications.

Ovarian necrosis.

Injury to the urinary tract.

Clotting in the ovarian blood vessels.

Peritonitis.

Death.

The list went on and on and each was even scarier than the other.

Sometimes the world around you doesn't have to go out with a bang, but a whisper of a breeze is enough to wipe away dreams, hopes and expectations away.

Sometimes one worried about the enemies outside their walls, protecting yourself with high walls and spikes, eager to keep it out, and we are blindsided by the silent enemy within, silently growing and corroding the fragile tread of life without the awareness of those in its grasp.

McGee landed his tearfilled eyes on Luke, whose face had hardened as he forced the engines of the ship harder, increasing the speed so they could reach faster to the base.

"Luke?"

The Buchanan pilot glanced at him with serious eyes, before bringing his gaze back to the control panel.

"This is bad, Tim."

"I know."

"No, you don't. There's_ crappy-but-we-can-handle_ bad and _shit-we-re-fucked-up_ bad. This is the later type."

"How do you know that?"

"Come on, man. That was Hope we were talking to. She's able to pop jokes even when the bricks are falling from the sky onto our heads. But this time she was spitting-nails serious, man." He touched another thing on the console, muttering in a soft voice. "She sounded like mom."


	90. Back to the base

**_Chapter 90: Back to the base_**

**_Deadulus project base  
>Undisclosed location<br>01:48 am  
><em>**

The ship was expertly piloted by Luke into the secret base hangar, slowly sliding down the air into the tunnel so it could reach the main vault several floors where the huge Deadulus class ship was being built. Once they reached the Deadulus' hangar Luke maneuvered the transport around it and guided it towards the empty area located in the right side where they had first boarded the Falcon just a couple of hours previously.

They all tensed as they saw a group of people standing already waiting for them, easily identifying Abby and Ducky in the welcome committee. Hotch and Johnny were standing behind Luke and McGee just waiting for touchdown.

"My people will take the wounded to infirmary, you take McGee and the others and try to find out what's happening." Johnny said in a soft voice to the profiler, before turning to McGee and pointing to the little girl slumbering in his arms. "Give her to me, I'll take her to the infirmary."

"Ah…" McGee hesitated, his gaze going down to the little girl whose face was relaxed in sleep, her pale skin marred here and there by scratches and bruises of Mara's hands. "Will you let me know…"

Johnny smiled, aware of the paternal feelings starting to rise in the younger man's chest. "I'll watch her for you."

McGee nodded distractedly, his gaze still lingering on the sleeping little girl. He stood up and gently transferred his precious cargo to Johnny's arms, careful with her bruised back and arms. He still hovered like a nervous mother hen as Johnny rearranged her, afraid that the maneuver would wake her up but the little girl just let out a sigh and buried her face in the older man's chest without waking up.

Finally the ship landed softly and the sealed doors were opened and lowered to the ground level as soon as they touched down, immediately allowing base personnel to come inside the ship to help transport the wounded.

Gibbs was helped out of the ship by Tony and Ziva, hobbling a little unsteady down the ramp towards Ducky who was talking with a doctor in a lab coat a few feet away.

McGee just threw a concerned look at his colleagues before receiving a small nod, so he left the ship in hurried steps eager to find out what happened to his wife. He approached the two doctors demanding answers but they weren't very forthcoming with information.

"What happened to Joy?"

"Timothy…" Ducky tried to speak, but McGee wasn't willing to be calmed down.

"No, I want to know what happened to her. Don't sugarcoat it for me."

The other doctor, whose nametag Vijay and whose skin and features anounced Indian descent, spoke in a calming tone, aware of the worry in the young husband.

"We don't know it yet. All we know is that she was found unconscious and bleeding and that her situation is serious enough to warrant surgery."

"How could someone find her in here?" McGee ran a trembling hand through his short hair, feeling it still wet from his dive in the river.

Abby shook his head, frustrated. "I don't think she's been attacked, McGee. We've checked the security videos and there's no evidence whatsoever that she was followed into that room. She was alone the whole time. And Ducky had mentioned that she's been feeling under the weather lately."

"Yeah… feverish, nausea, heightened sense of taste and smell… but we've thought it was something to do with Nellis."

Dr. Vijay frowned. "We won't know what's going on exactly until she's out of surgery. Until then, it's a waiting game."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NICS

The human body is a delicate instrument, which has to be finely tuned in order to work in optimal way. When the body is not fit as a fiddle, there comes a band of doctors, surgeons, auxiliary surgeons, nurses and assistants, all eager to take a look and check what could possibly have gone wrong in that instrument.

Sometimes something is wrong with the strings or a small dirty here and there that wrecks the sound. Or sometimes something is wrong with the instrument itself.

Unfortunately, if that's when they can't do nothing at all but a whole makeover.

But doctors can't do the same thing with a human body as there's a limit to what a doc can do.

So as the team of doctors and nurses were working frenetically over Joy's unconscious body preparing her for emergency surgery, the main surgeon waited for the clear images of the echo sonogram before going in. He intended to check the images first trying to find the source of the bleeding before cutting the agent.

Finally the screen came into focus showing the grey and white images of bones and flesh and the surgeon and his main assistant focused their eyes to the images aware that that info complicated things a lot.

"Are you seeing that?" The main doctor, Dr. Green, pointed to a vague thing in the lower side of the image.

"Yeah, there are two of them, but only this one was affected causing the hemorrhage." To a nurse, he gestured at the patient whose pelvis had been laid bare on the surgery table, being prepared for surgery. "We're going to fix whatever we can but we're not touching the one not affected."

"Dr. Green?"

"You've read her file and you can see the cysts in here and here." He pointed to some dots in the screen. "This may be her only chance and I'm not taking it away. We'll do what we can to ensure she still has this chance. We'll also aspirate the fluids out of these cysts in order to let her have a healthier post-op."

"Let's do it people, you've heard the man." The head nurse said.

There was a rush as the nurses, auxiliary surgeons and surgeons gathered around the fallen woman, taking their tools and starting to work in a frenetic pace to save the fragile lives at stake in that surgery theatre.


	91. Healing

_**Chapter 91: Healing** _

_Healing rain is a real touch from God. It could be physical healing or emotional or whatever. - Michael W. Smith _

Gibbs, Jimmy, Sarah and Temp were taken by the marines to have their cuts, bruises and wounds taken care of. Meanwhile McGee, Ziva and Tony sat with the BAU team in the waiting room of the base hospital, waiting for any kind of information of those admitted.

The base was located several feet below ground and as most of their personnel worked on twelve hour shifts it was fully equipped as a small town. It had a fully equipped hospital with three surgery theatres, a fully equipped infirmary for the minor injuries and a couple of private rooms that could be used depending on the type or severity of the wounded.

While the injured were treated, McGee sat forlornly at one of the chairs at the waiting room, his gaze fixed on his hands as he silently prayed for news – any news – from the E.R.

Little Lynn was also admitted, taken from Johnny's arms and rushed to have her cuts and bruises documented, photographed and catalogued for building a case against the Zenith followers later on.

After a few words with Hotch, JJ and Prentiss followed the little girl and stayed on guard outside in the corridor, just waiting for the doctors to be finished with her so they could have a moment and they could sit down with her and take her testimony, trying to pierce all details of her abduction and captivity stay under Mara's thumb.

She seemed to be an active and communicative little girl, despite the abuse and the world of hurt Mara had enforced into her life. None of the profilers could even imagine what that little girl had endured during her stint as a Servant for that crazy psychopath, but all evidence pointed to an abusive relationship as terrifying as the one Joy had had with Swanson back in the day.

Morgan and Reid silently observed as McGee was swallowed by worry, his nervous ticks becoming stronger by each passing minute without news. Seeking into his soul a deep measure of maturity and strength, Reid silently left Morgan's side and sat beside McGee, who barely acknowledged the younger man as he kept looking nervously from his hands to the door leading to the O.R., where his wife was being submitted to surgery.

Reid observed the nervous movements of his legs as he twisted his hands unsure of what to do with them. No information had come out yet, just making the tension and anxiety of those in the waiting room grow as the minutes went by.

Hope was sitting in silence beside Abby, who was hugging her with all her strength and acting as her only link to reality, as the blonde woman chastised herself over and over again on letting her little sister alone just for one minute, one single minute and now she was lying between life and death.

Finally unable to watch McGee's worry anymore Reid, in an attitude completely uncharacteristic of him, put a comforting hand on the shoulder of the NCIS agent, forcing him out of the ocean of self-loathing he was drowning into.

McGee turned tortured eyes to the profiler, gulping down the tears that were stubbornly coming up.

"She's going to be okay."

"You don't know that."

"She's been through that before." That picked McGee's interest. "She… she's had a ruptured cyst a couple of years ago. They've removed the affected ovary, the cyst and the fallopian tube and she stayed hospitalized for a couple of days after the surgery to clean up the mess caused by the fluids spilled in her abdomen."

McGee watched as Reid got lost in the memory of something that had happened so many years ago.

"Were you two…"

"We weren't together then. She had already left for a couple of years. But I…" Reid glanced at McGee, seeing the desperation in the NCIS agent's face. "… I've got worried when I called her during Thanksgiving and I couldn't reach her. I asked around until I finally heard from Hope that she was hospitalized. I … it didn't matter that we weren't an item them… she was still my friend and in pain so I flew down to LA and stayed for a couple of days until they said she was out of danger."

"But this is it, isn't it? If she'd just had another ruptured cyst… this is the end. This will affect her remaining ovary and… the game is over. The doctor will have to remove the other one and she will be rendered infertile forever."

"Hey… don't be so negative. Joy is good on beating the odds against her."

A doctor came out and everyone stood up, eager to hear the news.

"Family of Sarah McGee."

McGee stood up, his worry momentarily going to upcoming news of his sister. "That's my sister."

The doctor gestured him to a corner where they could have a little bit of privacy and started to update McGee on the status of his sister. After a few moments, the doctor guided him to a door that leads him to one of the many private bedrooms.

Entering the room, McGee sighed and lowered his face, feeling tears once again spilling out as he saw the sorry state his sister was. Bruised and beaten, Sarah was just a pale shadow of the vibrant young woman he was used to see. Yet, there was a faint smile in her broken lip and a light in her eyes that showed him that despite the pain and torture Mara hadn't been able to break her spirit.

"Hey Timmy."

"Hey, Sarah."

Sarah raised an arm carefully wrapped in bandages and he approached her bed until he could take her hand in his.

"I'm sorry you had to go through this." He said as he sat on the edge of her bed, gently massaging her fingers with his. He traced the scratches in her palm noticing the broken nails.

"It wasn't your fault. It was that psychotic bitch's fault."

"Hey, language."

"Tim, she was crazy. She was batshit crazy."

"Yeah." McGee sighed, looking up to the gray ceiling of the room. "She was."

"Who was she?"

"She… ah… She was … what Joy would have become if she hadn't been adopted by the Buchanans."

"What? What are you talking about?" Sarah could barely keep her surprise at his statement.

"You …. You know about Joy's scars? She was given them by that woman's father. He was a crazy bastard who believed that if he inflicted pain enough to a child he could train them to be easily manipulated."

"Oh… my gosh… but that woman…"

"She was one of his victims. And his daughter."

"He tortured his own daughter? That's insane."

"I've never said he was a sane person. I've just said he was a torturer and killer."

"How did Joy escape him?"

"We were able to track down the facts of what happened to her until a certain point of her childhood. Apparently he was being investigated by the FBI. They made a raid in his properties and released Joy from his custody, along with several other people and children."

"Oh my gosh…"

"And…" He sniffed, lifting a hand to wipe a tear on his own cheek before continuing. "They took her to a foster home. But she ran away and they lost track of her, never to be seen again."

"But then the Buchanans found her."

"Yeah, they did. And that was the beginning of Joy Buchanan."

"What's happening now?"

Timothy scrunched his face, feeling a sob welling in his chest. "Ah.. she was taken into surgery. I don't know what's happening to her now."

"Oh, Tim." The youngest McGee leaned towards her big brother, wrapping her arms around him as he sobbed against her neck.

"I don't know what I'll do if I lose her."

"Oh Tim."

"I really… don't."

"Hang on, big brother. We can't lose this fight now. Just have a little faith, okay?"

So the two McGees stayed there, crying and praying for the woman currently under the care of several surgeons just a couple of feet away in the O.R.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Gibbs was lying on a hospital bed while the nurse finished putting the last stitches on his leg, effectively sealing the flesh wound he had received during the raid. It had hit just muscle, but it still hurt like hell.

Ducky entered the room and approached his friend's bed, overseeing the work of the nurse and humming approvingly at it.

"Hey, Duck, any news?"

"If you're asking about our dear Mrs. McGee I'm afraid that she's still in surgery. The situation was deemed serious enough that a full team of surgeons were called up to attend her case. We haven't heard from the O.R. since then."

"Any idea of what happened to her?"

"All I know is that she suffered some kind of hemorrhage. The source is unknown, but several possibilities come to mind. None of them are good."

"Damnit."


	92. I'm here I'll always be here

**_Chapter 92: I'm here. I'll always be here._ **

_Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it. - Tori Amos _

Both Jimmy and Temp were rushed to the E.R. and carefully checked over, x-rayed, poked and probed by the doctor's on call. Bruised limbs were tended, broken rips wrapped, and cuts – several of them, either shallow or deep – were carefully and meticulously sewed back in the tiny surgical sutures leaving them with the appearance of modern Frankensteins, carefully wrapped and sewed like the fantastic monster from the gothic literature.

Their wounds were wrapped like mummies and the two youngsters were moved to a private room where they were ordered to stay immobile and out of trouble, soon being left alone by the swarm of nurses who had been hovering over them since their arrival at the base.

So the two youngsters were left alone for the first time in god knows how many hours since their rescue, staring at the gray ceiling of the underground facility with only the sound of the beeping machines attached to their bodies to make them company.

"Jimmy?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry."

"They've said that they would bring some Jell-o later on." Jimmy said as he blinked repeatedly, feeling his eyes gritty for forcing them too much with the non prescription glasses he stole from the maniac doctor they had met a couple of hours before at their captivity.

"I hate Jell-o." Temp muttered, turning on her bed so she could look at him, despite the heart monitors and the IV's lines attached to her.

"Are you okay?" She whispered, seeing how he was forcing himself to keep from moving on the hospital bed.

"I… ahm…" He tried several times to start speaking but there were so many thoughts ricocheting inside of his head that he couldn't pick only one to utter.

Seeing her boyfriend's fractured state of mind, Temp sat with difficulty and, after disconnecting a couple of tubes and wires connected to her body, she left her own bed and, dragging her own IV stand, moved towards her fallen boyfriend who stared at her surprised.

"What are you doing?"

"Move over."

Jimmy moved on the bed, granting her space enough so she could lie beside him and rest her head on the curve of his arm. She carefully settled down, mindful of his IV tubes as well as her own, trying to keep them out of the way as she snuggled against his side.

"This is better."

"Yeah, this is nice."

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts as the events of the last hours passed like a film before their eyelids, their kidnapping, awaking in captivity, meeting the strange and evil woman who later on inflicted her own brand of torture on their bodies. Temp felt Jimmy shuddering at a particularly bad memory, so she started to trace circles on top of his bruised and carefully bandaged chest in order to soothe him.

"Talk to me Jimmy." She whispered, adjusting herself so she could glance at least at his profile, this eyes fixed at the ceiling.

"We could have died."

"Yes, we could."

"We… that woman…" There were no words to describe their captivity under Mara's hands, so he chose to keep quiet and bite his broken lip, thanks to one of her many punches and slaps on his face.

"There are a lot of insane people in the world, Jimmy. This was just the first one we had to deal together."

"Are you saying that there will be more?"

"I'm sure of it. Aren't you?"

"I don't know. Now that we're here safe it feels like dream. A nightmare that was terrifying and gut twisting but… it faded away."

"But it was real, Jimmy. As well as the scars she left in us. Not only in the body but also in our very souls."

"Yeah…" He blinked, looking down at Temp's pixie face resting on the crook of his arm, her gaze serene as she looked at him. "I was thinking… I don't wanna do this alone."

"You're not alone, Jimmy. I'm here. I'll always be here."

Jimmy studied her for a moment, finding no doubt in her eyes about her statement. Regardless of what might happen, of what monster or crazy lunatic that might cross their path, she would still be there.

It was either a moment of insanity, or maybe he had finally reached the emotional maturity to see what he had before his eyes.

"I know. I know. What I've meant is… ahm… will you marry me?"

Temp blinked, taken by surprise by his proposal.

"Jimmy?"

"I know it's not the most romantic proposal you could ever have but … I … don't… uhm…"

Temp saw the doubt and insecurity flooding Jimmy's eyes to her surprised reaction, so she rushed to answer before he took it back.

"I do."

"You do." Jimmy smiled, surprised.

"I do. I will marry you."

"Temp I… I love you."

"I know Jimmy. I know. I love you too."

And after some whispered assurances of their devotion to each other, permeated by soft kisses despite the bruises and wounds that covered their young bodies, both youngsters fell asleep secure in each others' arms, surrounded by the beeping of the machines and the quiet murmurs typical of a hospital.


	93. Timing is everything

**_Chapter 93 - Timing is everything  
><em>**

**_"Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It's all about timing." Stacey Charter _**

So the hours drifted by, slowly crawling away, uncaring of those waiting for news in the waiting room. One by one the agents accommodated themselves on the uncomfortable seats in the waiting room, each giving support to each other in this time of need as the life of one of their own might be hanging by a very thin thread, and none could do anything to help.

Tony accommodated Ziva and Abby against his chest, each resting their heads on one of his shoulders and drifting to sleep as no news came from the surgery theatre. Hope settled against Luke's side, both falling asleep like a pile of exhausted puppies in one of the corners of the room. Hotch, Rossi and Morgan tried valiantly to stay awake, but the rush of adrenaline was gone so the men fell asleep on their own seats, their heads resting against the concrete of the wall, slumbering lightly as the night slowly became dawn.

Gibbs, after having his flesh wound in his leg properly taken care of, insisted on joining the vigil but Ducky had categorically said no, forcing him to stay in his own bedroom. He only obeyed after being told that at the very first change of status he would be immediately be informed, so he was resting in his own room with Ducky asleep on a chair beside him.

Reid didn't even bother to hide his exhaustion, resting on his side on two chairs and laying his head on Garcia's lap, having fallen asleep as she gently caressed his hair. She soon followed him into the land of nod, her glasses lying askew on her face as she snored lightly against the wall. Prentiss and JJ kept vigil with little Lynn and ended up falling asleep in chairs by her bedside.

McGee, after several hours in vigil, finally succumbed to exhaustion and had fallen asleep on a chair in a corner beside his colleagues. Sometimes one could see his eyes moving under his closed lids showing he was in the middle of a dream while his body finally gathered a well deserved rest.

It was that pile of sleeping bodies that greeted Dr. Green when he finally left the O.R. and ordered his patient into post-op. He looked around and found none remotely aware of their surroundings so he considered his options as well as the dangerous situations those had been involved in the last few hours. After a few seconds, he slowly left the waiting room, ordering a nurse to stay on vigil and come to warn him if any of them woke up.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

McGee startled awake, blinking furiously trying to remember the faint images that had permeated his dreams but they all dissolved in a puff of smoke. The flaying of his arms and legs hit Ziva, who in turn woke both Tony and Abby.

"What?"

"Gosh, my neck." Tony complained as he massaged his now aching neck muscles from the long hours asleep.

"Did someone come with any news?" Abby asked, fisting her eyes and smearing her makeup on her skin.

"It's morning already." McGee said, noticing the BAU agents still slumbering a few feet away.

The nurse noticed them finally awake and nodded, silently leaving the room and going to find the doctor in the post-op. One by one the agents woke up, poking the other still asleep and waking his colleague up. McGee stood up and rubbed his face with his hands, trying to dispel any trace of sleep of his brain but not being very successful with it.

Johnny, freshly showered and in a new uniform, entered the room coming from a short and to the point meeting with General Stevens in which he received the update on the situation he had left his marines at the hospital.

When Dr. Green entered the room, it was a very awake and nervous group that greeted him, all agents eagerly crowding him and asking simultaneously for information. Surprised, the doctor tried to organize the horde but only after an ear splitting whistle coming from John's lips that everyone finally shut up and gave the doctor the chance of speaking.

"Let the man talk." Johnny shouted, before turning to the doctor and signaling that he should go on.

"Okay…" He glanced around, "family of Joy Buchanan McGee."

McGee, Luke and Johnny took a step forward as the same time Hope waved her hand in the air, trying to catch the doc's attention.

"Ah… we…" McGee started saying just to be interrupted by John.

"Family."

"All family." Luke vaguely pointed to his siblings and brother-in-law, not bothering to specify who was who.

Dr. Green looked from one military man to the other, before his gaze landed on McGee who was similarly clothed, not seeing any clue of who was who as all of them had equally worried expressions on their faces. So he decided to fish for information.

"Who is the father?"


	94. Surprise, Daddy!

**_a/n: I'm glad with the reactions to my little surprise! Yes! Finally a little bit of joy for our intrepid due... but a little bit of heartache as well, as nothing good comes that easy in life.  
><em>**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Chapter 94 - Surprise, Daddy!<em>**

**_A sudden bold and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open. -Francis Bacon _**

His question brought confusion to the group, who started chattering again as they all looked at the doc not really following his line of questioning.

"Father? Why dad would have anything to do with it?" Luke puzzled out loud, as Johnny was equally confused.

"Her father? Our father is back in Glasgow, Montana. He's been hospitalized. Why do you need our father here?" Johnny asked, folding his arms and glaring at the doctor with his usual marine frown.

The doctor finally saw that his question might have been misinterpreted, so he tried to be more specific.

"I'm not asking about the patient's father. I'm asking about the father of the fetus she was carrying."

There was a hushed silence in the waiting room, as if all the air was suddenly sucked out of the atmosphere and only the emptiness of space stayed behind. The BAU agents looked surprised to McGee who had suddenly become pale and lost all his ability to speak, staring at the doctor in shock.

"What?" Johnny squealed, glancing immediately to McGee and finding the obvious surprise in his brother-in-law's face.

"She was... pregnant?" Luke asked again, not really processing the information.

McGee shook his head violently, finally recuperating his voice at the same time he glared at Luke for the mere suggestion.

"No, she wasn't pregnant." To the doctor, He said. "What are you talking about? What's wrong with my wife? She can't be pregnant."

The doctor nodded as the identities of the players were finally revealed. "Oh… So she is your wife."

McGee nodded energicaly as he spoke fast, nervously twisting his hands as he looked at the doctor. "Yes, and I'm sure she isn't pregnant. We would know if she were. So she's not. She can't be."

Dr. Green left a little of satisfaction at his work well done shine on his eyes.

"I assure you, Mr. McGee. She was. Actually... she still is." The doctor answered enigmatically.

The mystery was slowly killing the Buchanan's brothers, making them glare at the doctor with his irritating smug smile on his lips.

"Come on, either she is or she's not. There's no half pregnant. Or maybe pregnant…" Johnny was _this_ close of grabbing the doctor by his lapels, glaring down at the short bald man with his best marine's I-can-chew-you-out-and-spit-the-rest-later glare.

Seeing that he was in very real danger of being pummeled by very irritated marines, the doctor decided to cut the crap and go straight to the point.

"Please, let me explain." To McGee, the doctor explains in a very soothing voice, "Your wife has suffered the consequences of a medical condition known as _**abruptio**_ _**placentae**_, which is basically the fancy name of a severe abdominal bleeding resultant of the displacement of placentary tissue. In your wife's specific case, the implantation of the placenta did not go as expected and as a result of some kind of trauma it became unglued of the womb tissue causing thus hemorrhage. Coupled with her advanced endometriosis condition, it was a very delicate situation. We had to work hard to stop the bleeding in order to save the other placenta still attached."

At each word uttered McGee became paler and paler, taking a step back in horror as the situation became much more complicated than what he had imagined.

"What? I... don't... She can't..."

The doctor saw his state, so he tried to soothe the expecting father, but McGee was clearly hyperventilating and ready to freak out. Big time.

"I know it's a lot to process right now, but what you have to know is that as soon as we saw in the ultrasound pictures that there were two placentas we rushed her into surgery in order to save the one still attached to the womb tissue."

Ducky rolled Gibbs' wheel chair into the room at that moment, both men catching the end of the doctor's explanation. They exchanged worried looks and approached Tony and McGee, the younger man being kept standing just by the older man's hand on his shoulder.

The doctor kept explaining the situation he found in his O.R.

"The bleeding was a dangerous issue because it might affect both unborn fetus and mother but we were finally able to stop it. Right now we are still supplying her with fresh units in order to recuperate what she has lost before and during surgery. I'm not going to lie to you." Dr. Green kept a somber tone, his gaze serious at McGee. "She's not out of the woods yet and she might still lose the baby she is still carrying but …" The old doctor allowed a tiny smile to escape. "… That little one is a fighter. She's resting in post surgery right now and as soon as we have her in ICU we will inform you."

McGee kept staring at the doctor with a desolate expression on his face, his body shaking violently. Tony felt his Probie slowly becoming unglued and was there to catch him when McGee's legs failed him and he head dived straight towards the floor.


	95. Complicated much?

_**Chapter 95: Complicated much?  
><strong>_

**_We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future. - George Bernard Shaw_**

"McGee!" Gibbs shouted as he saw his younger agent go down, but Tony was able to break his fall so he landed gently on his knees instead cracking his head open on the hard cement floor.

Gibbs tried to raise from his wheelchair just to be stopped by Ducky's hand on his shoulder, keeping him sitting for the moment. Instead the older man pushed the marine closer to the main players of this family drama.

For once both John and Luke were startled mute, staring at doctor with slacked jaws very close to the floor, eyes wide with shock and surprise. Abby was also mute, her gaze jumping from the doctor, to McGee being ordered to breathe by Tony, then to the mute Buchanan brothers.

Ziva exchanged a worried glance with Tony, who gestured with his head that he would gladly accept some help with McGee, being promptly understood by her who ran to his side and started to calmly talk to the younger man who was still looking pretty out of it.

On the other hand, the BAU agents apparently were better prepared for such surprise coming straight out of the left field as they were the first react towards the news.

Reid, after the initial shock, left a huge grin plaster on his face as he imagined how his old friend would react to the news. He was aware of how she longed for kids, her attitude around her nieces and nephews a clear reminder of that, but he had no idea that the McGees were planning to have kids so soon.

Upon hearing the news Hotch felt a huge weight being lifted from his shoulders, as he had known the young Buchanan for almost as long as Reid and he was immediately reminded of the thin short woman in a Georgetown jacket who entered his office so many years ago looking for Gideon. He felt a smile appearing on his usually stoic face as he noticed the surprised – and shocked looks – on the faces of her immediate family.

Now that's a way to end – or to begin – well a day. It probably couldn't get better than this.

Rossi's reaction was… well…

"I'll be damned! He got the reverend's daughter pregnant _**before **_the wedding."

His words brought the Buchanan brothers out of their stupor, making them turn around and look at him with shock. Soon shock was substituted by cold calculation as their gazes landed on the now – barely – standing NCIS agent, being carefully supported Ziva and Tony.

His words resulted in well earned pokes on his middle from Garcia and a disgusted shake from Morgan's head.

"And you had to talk about that specific morsel of information, right big Italian stalion?"

Rossi shrugged, rubbing his tummy where Garcia had aimed her hit.

"What? It's true. Think about it. He did get her pregnant, didn't he?"

Everyone looked at McGee, who was slowly shaking his head still in shocked stupor.

"That can't be."

"Come on, man. I'm sure you know the birds and the bees. You've been playing doctor with each other for a while." Tony said with a small smile, however his eyes till were troubled as he could still feel the slight shaking of McGee's limbs under his hands.

McGee shrugged out of Tony's and Ziva's reach, glaring angrily at those around him at the same time the same old same old pain of their situation burned deep into his gut.

"She can't be, Tony!" McGee growled through his clenched teeth, horrified at the feeling of the well known burning behind his closed eyelids, a sure sign that tears would soon come.

All those who had been silently rejoicing the apparent miracle toned down their enthusiasm at the apparent distress on his face, feeling a sentiment of worry fill the air of the waiting room once again.

"What are you talking about, Timothy?" Johnny finally asked, his frown becoming deeper and deeper on his face. Luke was looking from one man to the other, feeling the incoming explosion as both were locked in a staring contest.

"She... we... we can't have children. We were told over and over again by most of the doctors of the East Coast. We've been going to fertility specialists for almost two years and… every… single… one… of them said she couldn't... wouldn't …"

Ducky took a step towards the oldest Buchanan sibling, seeing his expression become even harder at each word McGee said.

"He is speaking the truth. I've overseen her treatment and unfortunately there were no positive results. She has been subjected to Intra Uterine implantation, hormonal shots to induce ovulation and a huge array of other treatments in order to attempt a conception. They've all failed."

"We've sat down shortly before the wedding and... reviewed our options. We decided to give up on trying for a child on our own and we agreed to try the adoption route. We submitted the papers for analysis as soon as we came back from our honeymoon."

"But now she's pregnant, McGee." Tony said rubbing a hand through his neck, feeling the tension going up again as he considered a terrifying option. "Are you even sure that she… you…"

"Tony, are you even suggesting…?" McGee's reaction was swift and immediate. He glared at Tony with his coldest gaze he could manage at the moment.

"I don't know what I'm suggesting!" Tony shouted, aware of what he had implied. "I'm just asking if you have considered all options!"

"The problem wasn't in me. It was in her. The endometriosis messed her up badly… Her doctors always told her she would never conceive naturally. And when we tried to have an assisted conception none of the methods worked. We tried and tried over and over again and…"

"And somehow she conceived right after you've given up of any chance of having a child on your own." Gibbs said, rubbing a hand over his wounded leg feeling it twitch with nervous tension underneath the bandages.

"I know! But... the doctor's said that she might still... she lost one and now she..." McGee looked at Gibbs in tears, his voice quivering, "Boss, her mother died at birth. You saw how Laura's death affected Dylan. I don't think I can..."

Tony squeezed McGee's shoulder, feeling his own eyes tearing up as he witnessed the despair on McGee's face. Gibbs looked at the doctor, who was frowning as he stared at the medical file in his hands.

"Are you informing me that the patient's mother died due to complications at childbirth?"

"Yes."

Dr. Green hummed as he made some notations on the file. "I'll need to review Mrs. McGee's mother's medical history, but I can assure you that the situation is not as dire as you imagine. Medicine advanced in great steps during the last decades and we are much better prepared to deal with delicate pregnancies, especially when we have multiple fetuses."

"What?"

The doctor looked up from his papers, his eyebrows going up in his forehead. He saw the shocked look on the expectant father, his friends and the burly marines glaring down at him.

"Haven't I mentioned before?"

They all shook their heads, while McGee looked at the doctor with huge green eyes, "Both placentae, the one which was displaced and the one still attached to her womb, are carrying twins."

Ziva tried to hold on to McGee, but Tony was faster to stop his Probie before he headdived towards the floor.

Again.


	96. Baby woes and baby planning

**_Chapter 96 - Baby woes and baby planning_**

Consciousness was a faint light shining above his face, permeated with the loud sounds of people talking somewhere above his head.

"McGeeeee. Come on man, wake up, McDaddy." Tony lightly slapped McGee's cheek, trying to wake him up.

The younger agent blinked owlishly at Tony, his eyes unfocused as he found several heads floating over himself. For some reason he was laying on the floor and Gibbs, Ziva, Tony and Abby were around him, as if holding a wake.

"What's happened?"

"You fainted again, man." Morgan said from somewhere on his left.

McGee shook his head and it felt as if it was filled with cotton candy, sluggishly trying to think. Ziva and Tony helped him to sit down, but they stopped moving him when he became suddenly pale.

"Why?" He lifted a shaking hand for his throbbing head, squinting at Gibbs smirking at his side with a very uncharacteristic glint in his eyes.

"Apparently the news that you were going to be a daddy for twins was too much for your delicate sensibilities." Reid said with mirth in his voice from his position at one of the waiting room chairs.

"Ah...yes," he said in a normal tone.

Hotch sat beside the group on the floor and exchanged a smirk with Gibbs who just held a smile back.

They all made a mental countdown: Five... four … three... two...

"Oh God." Timothy McGee, NCIS Special Agent, who had hacked the Pentagon and faced heartless killers in danger situations, started shuddering violently. He lifted terrified eyes to Gibbs. "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God..."

"McGee! Breathe!" Gibbs shouted, but the young man was still in hyperventilating. If words weren't enough...

"OUCH!"

Tony smirked at Gibbs infalible cure for all maladies on mankind. The younger man was looking dazedly at Gibbs who had just headslapped him.

"What the _hell _is wrong with you?"

"You were freaking out, McGee!" Gibbs shouted at him, receiving a glare from the agent who carefully rubbed his aching head.

"Of course I was freaking out, Boss! I have the right to freak out! TWINS! She's having twins! We were trying for years for _one_ baby and now she's having _twins_? What am I going to do with _twins_?"

As the gloomy air cleared thanks to the mirth of the situation, all agents decided to add their own unsolicited advice regarding the situation.

"Double the dirty diapers." Reid offered.

"Crying in stereo." Morgan snickered as Prentiss and JJ nodded, smirking at the still dazed agent.

"Two schools all the way to university..." Gibbs said with a smile, making McGee groan and hide his face in his hands.

"But the most important thing of all..." Hotch made a dramatic pause, waiting until McGee looked up to his face to complete with a small smile. "... double the trouble."

"If they are remotely like the rest of the family, you'd better check with your insurance company how can you increase the premium of the townhouse cover." Johnny said nonchalantly, smiling at McGee who was finally helped up by Ducky and Tony. Ziva was just smirking, seeing how dazed her colleague was with the news.

"Why?" The future daddy asked.

Luke turned to Johnny, scratching his five o'clock shadow on his face. "How many times did we set the coach in fire?"

"Ah... three?" Johnny looked up, thinking. "No, I think it was four."

"And we built a rocket in the backyard..."

"It flew sideways instead of going up, destroying a section of the kitchen wall." Johnny smiled at the memory, observing McGee gulping loudly at the long string of misadventures the siblings were sharing. If his kids inherited the daredevil genes of the Buchanan side of the family, he was so _screwed._

"And we also blew up Jack's shed." Luke snapped his fingers, grinning at McGee.

"But that was a carefully controlled scientific experiment. It's not my fault that we had bad sulphur."

"Sure, it was bad sulphur." Luke agreed. "Remember when you arrived home with your first motorcycle?"

Johnny grinned at Luke, "Man, I thought Dad would blow a gasket. He was never convinced that I won it fair and square in a game of cards."

"And let's not forget the poison ivy curse." Luke said. Both he and Johnny shuddered at the memory.

"Should I know about the... poison ivy curse?" McGee asked, just to be the recipient's end of equally amused glances from the Buchanan brothers.

"You'd rather not." Johnny shook his head.

"Definitely not." Luke grinned, seeing the terror building in McGee's green eyes.

"Oh, I have to ask..." Johnny went after the doctor, bringing him to the middle of the agents. "Doc, please tell us: How far along is she?"

"Oh... well..."

"It doesn't matter, as long as Joy and the babies are fine." McGee said, receiving reproving glares from the two brothers.

"Come on doc..." Said Luke rubbing his hands together.

"According to my calculations, I would say she is eight weeks along, but only after more specific tests I'll be able to be more precise."

"YES! YES!" Luke punched the air, celebrating at the same time he was at the receiving end of mortal glares from Johnny. "Pay up, buddy, I've told you so! This is so rich."

"What are you guys talking about?" Gibbs asked barely containing a grin at the enthusiasm of the youngest Buchanan.

Johnny growled and opened his wallet and started to slowly deposit twenty notes on Luke's outstretched hand.

"We made a bet that Joy would be pregnant within an year." Johnny admitted, just to shrug at the gaping stares he received from McGee, Tony and Ziva. "The biggest condition was to guess the date of conception. I've put my money on the date you guys went out with the Baby Making Caddy, but Luke said that Joy was at least a couple of weeks pregnant at the wedding. And he also said that they would be twins. So I lose, he wins."

"You guys made a bet on... ahhh..." McGee blushed deeply, the burning feeling on his flesh crawling up his neck, cheeks, until it reached his ears and turned tehm into a bright red cherry color. Gibbs just observed, waiting patiently to see the smoke come in billows out of his ears.

"What can I say, man. I had faith in your swimmers!" Luke slapped McGee on his back, making the young man almost fall forward.

"You... you..."

"Now we have to bet if they'll be only boys... or only girls." Luke said, slowly counting the twenties in his hand, completely oblivious to the death glare McGee was throwing at him or the good natured laughter that was coming from the BAU and the NCIS agents.


	97. Wait

Hello my dearies, I'm back! After a long hiatus I'm back to this monster. I've felt an unbelievable need to write and put down words into paper… so here it is!

* * *

><p><strong><em>Chapter 97: Wait<em>**

_**Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity. - Henry Van Dyke**_

It was with a small sense of déjà vu that McGee entered the base hospital bedroom where Joy was resting after her emergency operation. He paused and gulped, needing the moment to take in the several machines attached to his beloved wife controlling the oxygen in her blood, her heartbeat, and so many other things he was sure only Ducky knew what they were for.

He glanced back and saw the Buchanan siblings along with Tony and Ziva, who nodded silently and walked away giving him the much needed privacy to stay a couple of minutes alone with his wife as he closed the door and finally shut them out.

It was with shaking reverence that he approached her bedside, his gaze landing on her beloved face now pale and with dark rings around her eyes, the trauma resultant of blood loss evident in her opaque skin and dull hair. Even her lips, which always were so vividly colored, were dull and dark, so different from the lively woman he left behind just a couple of hours ago. Before the hospital, the shootout and the standoff with Martha, before the dive into the dark river and the shots which he fired in Martha's chest, forever condemning her to damnation in his desperate attempt of saving a child's life.

In order to keep one alive the other had to die, so he made his choice and would stand by it.

But despite her dismaying appearance the doctors were optimistic about her prognosis, as they had been able to stop the bleeding, save at least one viable placenta with two tiny miracle babies inside and the life of their mother which was now resting the sleep of the freshly operated and heavily medicated before him.

Once he was right beside her he gently took her hand in his, tracing the veins pumping the precious blood with the point of his indicator, careful not to dislodge the oximeter firmly attached to the tip of her finger.

For a moment there he stood in reverent silence, his mind replaying the events of the last three days, their lovemaking in the safe house of the BAU, going to Quantico, Joy having to face the monster and abuser of her past in order to uncover some clues of his plans, finding out about Sarah, Jimmy and Temp's kidnapping, the attack against Maggie and Joseph in their own houses and the desperate rush to rescue their youngest family members in a place they've first imagined was only a hideout, but it was actually more like than a torture chamber even worse than those concentration camps the Nazi peppered throughout Europe.

He finally dragged an uncomfortable looking plastic chair closer to her right side and sat down heavily, settling down for a long vigil waiting until she would finally open her eyes.

It was going to be a long wait.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They took turns on her bedside. Sometimes Tony would come with a hot cup of coffee and donuts, along with the newest puzzle or brand new info of this or that show he'd just seen on television. Ziva would bring him a new book or magazine and sit perfectly still in the other plastic chair brought into the room, keeping vigil on him and on her without offering empty platitudes or promises that everything would be okay.

He wasn't ready to hear that.

He might never be ready to hear that.

Johnny would drop by to keep him posted on the developments of the cleanup operation, fuss over Joy's blanket and gently touch her hand where the IV line was connected, tracing the needle underneath the skin with a finger surprisingly gentle for someone his size. He would then throw a sympathetic glance to McGee, sigh and leave, not willing to start an argument in epic proportions.

He had already tried and he had failed in his attempts to convince the younger man to rest.

He wouldn't leave her side.

Luke tried once, twice; at the third time he threw his arms up and gave up, muttering that he was just stubborn as the rest of the family.

That elicited a small smirk from McGee, but soon his gaze would focus on his beloved's wife face and go back to the attentive vigil.

Sarah, still suffering from the after effects of her captivity, was helped by Matt, who was given authorization to enter the base and hang around his fiancée, until she joined her big brother on the bedside vigil. She just dropped on the other chair and grasped his free left hand, squeezing it lightly and settling down for the long haul.

Her arrival was greeted by a tired smile.

And so the time went by.

It was going to be a long wait.


	98. Azriel's visit

**_Chapter 98: Azriel's visit_**

**_When a child can be brought to tears, and not from fear of punishment, but from repentance he needs no chastisement. When the tears begin to flow from the grief of their conduct you can be sure there is an angel nestling in their heart. - Horace Mann_**

On the third night after the rescue mission, Gibbs rolled in his wheelchair into the room where the McGees were finding him slumped over his arms, resting his head tiredly on the hospital bed where Joy slept peacefully. Most of the equipment had been removed as the doctors were expecting her waking up soon. He let a grimace escape as his movements twitched his wounded leg. Thanks to Mara's goons he was supposed to be stuck in that wheelchair until the muscles were strong enough for therapy and crutches.

He rolled closer bringing his wheelchair to the right side of the bed opposite to the one McGee was sleeping totally exhausted. He smiled lightly as he saw the colorful blanked draped over the younger man's shoulders, sure that one of the girls – either Hope, Abby or Garcia – would have been the angel of mercy in that act of kindness.

Glancing towards his sleeping agent, he noticed how her coloring had improved lightly, how her breathing brought her breasts up and down under her thin hospital gown before he moved his gaze towards the IV lined hand resting protectively over her womb, in a tentative attempt to protect the fragile lives within.

Sighing deeply, he approached the bed until his knees softly hit the metal frame, leaning forward until one of his calloused hands rested on top of Joy's right hand over her womb.

Inner turmoil shook him until he visibly shivered. He was taking a huge leap of faith here, breaching a wall he had long ago promised never to demolish again, ripping apart his carefully built skepticism in order to do something very uncharacteristically of him.

He closed his eyes and yet tears stubbornly gathered behind his closed lids, as long lazy mornings unfolded before his eyes as he saw himself gathering his beloved wife in his arms, swirling Kelly up high in the air, accepting Shannon's gentle tugging into a church on a Sunday morning so long ago.

All that had ceased once his fledging faith in a Supreme God died a horrible death in a car accident which swept his family in one single strike.

Yet here he was, willing to strike a deal with a God he wasn't sure he still believed, in order to ensure that the fragile family before him would have a chance long ago denied to him.

He felt dizzy and slightly feverish, as sweat spontaneously started to appear on his forehead as thoughts became jumbled and words escaped him, his carefully prepared speech going down the drain before the gigantic task he found before himself.

Still he decided to go on so he shut his eyes tighter, his calloused hand squeezing lightly Joy's hand underneath his as he dared to talk to a God he had cursed, cussed and screamed at so long ago.

He prayed.

"Go…" His throat was suddenly parched and he couldn't go on for a second or two, until he found enough spit to wet his mouth again, his lips going out wetting his dry lips. "God?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

**_Maximum Security Prison_**  
><strong><em>Somewhere near Chicago, Illinois<em>**

Thousands of miles away from the base, the shouts and murmurs of the night were slowly subdued in a high security prison in Chicago. The inmates were conducted like sheep to their own cubicles, settling in for the night.

In a top security area, where the most dangerous men in that facility waited for their final meeting with their maker, after being judged and found guilty by the law of men, one single cell had a very peculiar scene unfurling inside its walls.

The man inside it tried to scream, fight or negotiate his way, throwing epithets and raging about his own importance, but none of his empty words were of any effect against the presence making itself known and demanding retribution.

But none of his offers of wealth, fame or glory were accepted.

After all, death doesn't accept earthy possessions as payment.

As it is written in Matthew 16: "_Those who want to save their lives will lose them. But those who lose their lives for me will find them. What good will it do for people to win the whole world and lose their lives? Or what will a person give in exchange for life? The Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory. Then he will pay back each person based on what that person has done."_

The payment was due and checks and credit cards were not acceptable.

As he gurgled his last breath, Swanson had a glimpse of what was waiting for him in the eyes of his executioner, his mouth opening as terror flooded his body and all his past acts flashed before his eyes, until the silver line was ruptured and he was no more.

His executioner leaned over his body, now nothing more than an empty shell in which evilness took root and multiplied, silently and reverently closing the shocked eyes. Bowing his head, he said a short prayer to the Almighty before standing, his gaze serene and calm.

He turned around e left the cell without leaving any trace of his presence, exiting the same way he entered: He walked through the wall.

Once outside, he found a small contingent of guardians holding the fort, their flaming blades shining despite the absolute darkness of the corridor. He walked towards the last guardian, whose gaze hadn't left the door since the executioner entered to obey His own orders.

Both nodded lightly, acknowledging each other before the executioner said only two words.

"It's done."

The muscular guardian visibly relaxed, before nodding and turning his back, walking in hurried steps towards the door of that sector. The executioner's words halted him before he reached the exit.

"Send my greetings to the Commander, Guilo."

The muscular guardian halted, before speaking over his shoulder.

"I will, Azriel"

* * *

><p><em>Azriel – It's one of the various names of the Angel of Death in extra biblical texts. Even though there is no mention of it in the Bible or the Qur'an, there is an alarmingly high number of traditional mentions of it in other texts related to both. It's kind of a convention, but none advocated by theologians in both religions. It's believed to come from Hebrew lore, as it's translation literally means Whom God Helps.<em>


	99. Learning to let go

**_Chapter 99: Learning to let go_**

**_ A big part of letting go is recognizing when it is time to stay in a situation and when it is time to move on. Darren L. Johnson_**

"Ah… God?" Gibbs opened his eyes and looked up, noticing the crude gray ceiling of the room, dotted with faint lights here and there. "I know I haven't been particularly…" Gibbs grimaced, suddenly reminded of his previous actions towards the very imaginary figure he was trying to talk. "… Mr. _Congeniality_ in our dealings in the past but I would like to have a private moment with you."

He fidgeted on his chair before he noticed what he was doing and forcing himself to stop it. Gibbs never fidgeted. Ever.

"So…" He glanced to the dark shadows around Joy's eyes and the mop of hair on McGee's head, the only part he could see from where he was sitting and decided to go forward, regardless of how stupid he might feel right now.

"You see this couple? That kid over there…" He pointed with his free hand towards McGee, who sighed and settled more comfortably against the bed, not waking up. "… that kid has been through hell during the last days and back. I think he deserves a break. You should cut him some slack. He is just a man fighting for his country and… for the woman he so desperately loves. He has a dream of having a family and You keep throwing these stones – not stones, boulders - in his path. Everybody has a breaking point and I don't want to see him break and become… you know… _me_."

Gibbs breathed deeply, his gaze moving to Joy whose breathing kept going steady according to the up and down of her chest.

"And this girl here… God, you really have to review your plans. I mean, seriously, how much shit do You think she can still take?" He shook his head, aware that he was merely venting his frustrations to the thin air but he plunged on regardless. "I don't pretend to understand Your works and I really don't want to, because seriously, I think this is all a bunch of lies that make no sense at all but somehow … what I've seen these last few days… I mean… maybe You do exist... and I'm not discussing the merit of that belief … but if You _do_ exist, I really don't like thinking that You're there just watching us being screwed over and over again without doing absolutely nothing. You're just there, sitting, enjoying the show while we're here being shot at, kicked and maimed and bruised and … killed and You do absolutely nothing. What kind of God are you?"

Gibbs' frustration had reached unmentionable levels, so he was struggling not to shout to the heavens again, just like he had done when he found out about Kelly and Shannon. He gulped and bowed his head, his next words a mere whisper which he himself barely heard.

"Why don't You simply _do_ something?"

He sniffed lightly, closing his eyes against the tears. He remained in such position until he figured out that the waterworks were closed and was surprised when he felt somehow calmer after his explosion, a peace invading his heart after unburdening all his revolt and pain. He felt pressure over his hand, as if a man's hand had laid over his own and started to squeeze it lightly just as he was squeezing Joy's hand underneath it.

Assuming that McGee had awaken and had witnessed his emotional outburst, he took a few more seconds before raising his head to meet his subordinate gaze, but he was surprised to find McGee still asleep dead to the world in the same position he'd been since the beginning.

He frowned and gazed at the strong hand resting over his own, the strong tanned fingers felt calloused over his skin. His gaze followed the tanned fingers to an equally tanned arm, going up muscled biceps to a strong chest, until he found a sharp chiseled chin and patrician nose, crowded with dark blue eyes so much like his own yet so different.

As soon as their gazes met the other squeezed Gibbs' hand, the other man nodding lightly in acknowledgment. His action moved his blond hair, which almost touched his shoulders in soft waves in an uneven cut. He was using a plaid red shirt and jeans but, despite his civilian clothes his posture screamed command and power and his gaze held too much power to make him a simple foot soldier.

Gibbs sat straighter in his chair as he connected the dots. He knew who that man was; he'd seen him before. He opened his mouth to speak but the other one beat him to the punch.

"I'm not here to answer the question you want me to." Commander Tal said in a firm voice, his gaze firm and direct. "Only God knows why He does what He does and it's not in the scope of my attributions to question His decisions. He is what He is and there is a purpose behind everything He does." Gibbs shook his head, but Tal wasn't finished. "I'm not saying that you are wrong in grieving for your loss. But you should recognize that their lives - and specially their deaths - molded who you are _today_, the person who you should and needed to be right now, so you should remember the good and build upon it."

Gibbs' throat felt raw as words piled up on his mouth but the only thing that came was something extremely pathetic and still so true. "I miss them."

"Once again, you're not wrong in grieving for them. But what would Shannon say if she saw you today? Would she like what sees in you?"

Gibbs thought about that for a second before slowly shaking his head. Tal gave a final squeeze before letting his hand go, standing by McGee's side in a protective stance. The old marine pointed with his chin to the slumbering youngsters.

"What happens now to them?"

Tal, in an extremely paternal gesture, caressed Timothy's hair with a gentle hand as he watched over his charges, so fragile and mortal. "They rest. Heal. Become ready to fight another day."

"And what about their enemies? Mara and Martha are dead, but I doubt they were the only ones under Swanson's influence-"

"Swanson's dead." Tal interrupted Gibbs, his voice taking a steely tone. "He won't be a problem anymore."

"How?" Gibbs noticed only steel and determination on Tal's face, his mind coming up with a possibility…

"You-"

"He's not going to bother anyone where he is."

"What have you done?"

"'_Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live_." Tal quoted, his gaze resting on Joy's peaceful slumbering face. "But it had to be done and so it was done." He looked to Gibbs. "You were and are a soldier. You've followed orders. I just followed mine."

Gibbs nodded silently.

"So that's it."

Tal threw a glance at Gibbs before lowering his gaze to his hand gliding over McGee's hair, not answering.

"Is this how it ends?"

Tal smiled smartly before lifting his serene gaze at Gibbs without saying a world and waiting for him to figure it out on his own.

They stayed in a staring contest until Gibbs chuckled, finally Gibbs understanding God's plan.

"It_ doesn't_, does it?"

Tal smirked, a mischievous glint coming to his eyes before he nodded to Gibbs and moved towards the door, disappearing right before Gibbs' eyes without answering his question.

"Boss?" McGee croaked, his voice breaking with sleep.

"Uhm?"

"Who were you talking to?"

"Ah… nobody. Just… nobody."


	100. True meaning of family

_**Chapter 100: True meaning of family**_

_**Every child should have a caring adult in their lives. And that's not always a biological parent or family member. It may be a friend or neighbor. Often times it is a teacher. Joe Manchin **_

McGee fisted his eyes tiredly, feeling the exhaustion of the last few days as he stretched trying to work out the kinks of his back. "How long did I sleep?"

"A couple of hours tops." Gibbs said, glancing at the door and finding no trace of the presence which just left.

At that moment Joy took a deep breath, moving in the bed and announcing that her slumber was near its end. McGee smiled and stood up, leaning over her and gently patting her face until she blinked slowly.

"Wha… Tim?" Her voice came just in a whisper thanks to the days of disuse.

"Hey, beautiful. Time to wake up."

A frown marred her forehead. "What time is it? Am I late for work?"

McGee chuckled, feeling hope blossoming in his heart for the first time since the kidnappings.

"It's time to thank your lucky stars you're alive."

Finally the room came into focus and Joy looked around the infirmary room confused. Her gaze landed briefly on Gibbs, taking in the wheelchair and the scratches on his face before going back to McGee, studying his face carefully and noticing the scratches and the totally exhausted look in his eyes.

"What happened? Where am I?"

McGee rubbed his hands over his face, feeling the last tendrils of sleep ebbing away as he looked down to his wife.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Joy stayed mute for a few seconds, her gaze lost as the recollection of the last hours crashed up and front and she visibly start to shake.

"Oh… my God… the kids? Jimmy, Temp… did you find… oh gosh Sarah? Where are they? Did you find them? Are they hurt?"

McGee shook his head, his hands pushing her back on the bed as she was attempting to sit down but he could read the pain on her face as she tried to move.

"They're fine. We were able to find and rescue them. They had some bruising and were pretty beaten but nothing that a couple of weeks can't cure."

"Sara is fine, isn't she? So is Temp?"

"Yes, they are fine." McGee exchanged a worried glance with Gibbs as Joy had so far ignored her own situation. "Aren't you curious to know why you're at the infirmary?"

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to think. "Did I do something stupid?"

"Not that I know of. What is the last thing you remember?"

Joy took a deep breath, a frown marring her forehead as she tried to think. "Hope… Abby and Garcia in the control room. They were happy and jumping."

Gibbs rolled closer, "Yes, they had just received the confirmation that we had found the kids. What happened next?"

"Pain…" Joy's voice became just a murmur. "Blinding pain as if a spike was thrust into my guts and someone was twisting it. Blood… Swanson's laughter in the air."

"Swanson?" McGee threw her a worried gaze, but she was lost in the recollection.

"Red eyes…"

"Swanson is dead." Gibbs announced, making both agents look at him in surprise at the revelation. "A good source told me that."

"He's dead?" Joy asked Gibbs, looking for confirmation from the older man, who nodded resolutely.

"But… if it wasn't him… what was it?"

McGee bit his lower lip, threw a worried glance to Gibbs before taking Joy's hands in his, squeezing it silently asking for her attention.

"Joy, the results of the exams came back."

"Oh…" She gulped, looking at him brokenheartedly. "I'm … sorry?"

"They came back clean." He saw surprise appear on her face. "The nausea, the muscle aches, the headaches… they weren't result of radiation effects."

"Then what were they?"

McGee used one hand to touch the side of her head, twisting a curl lightly around his finger.

"You were … pregnant."

"Wha..?" Joy's eyes immediately filled with tears.

"They said that there was some kind of problem with the placenta. It didn't get implanted the right way so…. You bled out."

She gasped.

"Oh… I…"

"But you're _still_ pregnant." She looked confused at him. "Remember those medicines for inducing ovulation? They must have kicked in later after you quit them because… there were twins… The docs had to remove one placenta but they were able to save the other one." She was sobbing now and so was he. "They've said… that there's still risk of a spontaneous miscarriage so they want to keep you in observation for awhile. No extraneous exercises, no running, no jumping of moving cars... You're pretty much bedridden for the duration of your pregnancy so… no active duty for you anymore."

"I'll quit if that's what it takes." She said between her tears.

Gibbs started to complain but she turned to him, shaking her head. "Boss, this is too important. More important than the job. Please."

After a few seconds of consideration, he nodded. "Kay."

To McGee, she asked in a shaking voice. "Was it something I…"

"No."

"But… I wasn't eating and…"

"It's not your fault."

"But I…"

"You didn't know, Joy. Me either. Even if we did, we probably had no chance of saving them."

"Them?"

"They were twins." McGee gently touched her tummy, smiling shakily as he caressed her lightly. "These here are two as well."

Her face lit up in huge smile as she laughed between her tears, squeezing his shaking hands as she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that they had been given a miracle.

Gibbs, noticing the emotional upheaval of the couple, tried to slowly roll out of the room unnoticed but was stopped by Joy's softly calling his name.

"Jethro, wait!"

He stopped and looked at the couple who were beaming brightly at him, their mirth and excitement right there for anyone to see. They've exchanged a silent look, trying to convey something before Joy looked at him with shining eyes.

"So, Boss, ready to be a granddaddy?"


	101. Nothing but the blood

_**Chapter 101: Nothing but the blood**_

"…_A fox had by some means got into the store-room of a theatre_." Rossi read to the little girl avidly watching him as he read from Aesop's tales. "_Suddenly he observed a face glaring down on him and began to be very frightened; but looking more closely he found it was only a Mask such as actors use to put over their face. "Ah," said the Fox, "you look very fine; it is a pity you have not got any brains_." Rossi turned to her, gently touching her now clean nose and eliciting a girly giggle from her. "And what lesson we gather from this story ?"

The girl bit her lip thinking about the text, "Masks don't necessary have heads that go with them?" She said, seeing Rossi beam at her.

"Not exactly. It means that _'Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.'_ It doesn't matter if you make a big deal of who you are outside, with masks, plumes and silk. What really matters, it's what's _here_." He touched with a finger in her pajama clad chest, over her heart. "Your soul is what really counts. If you are brave enough and your soul is pure, if you are deemed worthy of the prize, then you can do anything."

Rossi closed the book Reid had produced from his bottomless messenger bag, setting aside as the little girl knelt on the hospital bed staring at him with green startled eyes.

"Just like in the _Knights of the Round table_. Only Arthur was worthy of taking the sword out of the rock."

"Exactly like that. And once he got the sword he was found worthy of ruling the kingdom."

"And then became King and married a _princess_!" She squealed with glee, bringing a bark of laughter from the older profiler as he thought about the trials that particular marriage caused the mythical king.

"Yeah, kind of." He looked up and found Hotch, Emily and Reid standing by the door of the infirmary. Hotch gestured that he needed to talk, so Emily left them behind and approached the bed where Rossi and Lynn were.

"Hey Lynn, look what I've brought to you." Emily showed a doll box she had kept hidden behind her back.

"Oh wow, miss Emily, that's a Princess Barbie!" Lynn grabbed the box and immediately proceeded to destroy the package.

Noticing that the little girl's attention was elsewhere, Rossi nodded to Emily and left Lynn into the woman's care. He crossed the room and gestured to Reid and Hotch to step outside into the corridor.

Once outside, Hotch gestured towards the girl. "What do you think of her?"

Rossi sighed. "Children are astonishingly resilient. I believe she hadn't been long under Mara's thumb: she still remembers her house, her mother, her cat Pottery, her favorite dollie…"

"Having had good pregenital phases certainly corroborated for an orderly mental status despite her traumatic exposure to violence and torture." Reid added in his academic tone of voice. Rossi grimaced and thanked the younger profiler for the information.

"My point is that she is consciously choosing not to dwell on the bad memories, grasping onto the good ones of her mother before her death and refusing to talk about her period with Mara. Which is a perfectly normal reaction but I don't know how long that can be kept buried before biting her in the ass."

"You think there might have consequences." Hotch said, his gaze firmly set on Emily who was brushing the little girl's hair who was totally entertained with the princess doll.

"Serious consequences such as identification with the aggressor, hysteria, neurosis up until psychosis if she is submitted to a continuous traumatic relationship in the future." Reid added, biting nervously his lower lip.

"She will have to be placed on the foster care system until we find out if there are any relatives left willing to take her-" Rossi said, just to be interrupted by Garcia who materialized right behind him.

"There's no one." The three men turned to her, who handed a paper file to Rossi and a tablet to Hotch and both men carefully started reading. Reid, the only one without a file, perched over Rossi's shoulder trying to read from the same file.

"What did you find?" Hotch asked as he perused the file, but he wanted a digest version of the data in his hands.

"Her name is Lynnette Suesan, she's eleven and she was born at the Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Uptown, PA. Jaycee Suesan, her mother, worked as bartender in a seedy bar near I-95. She developed a severe case of pneumonia 11 months ago and never recovered completely. Finally she was admitted in a small clinic for treatment where our dear Martha worked as a Nurse. She brought the child along as she couldn't leave her with anyone else." Garcia sighed. "She never left the clinic and was declared deceased 10 months ago. The child was listed as deceased as well in the paperwork in the clinic."

Rossi checked the picture of a reed thin blonde woman, barely out of her teens holding a toddler Lynn in her arms.

"Any sign of the father?" Hotch asked.

"As far as I dug into the family history, Jaycee was a dropout who got pregnant in the last year of high school. Not only was she shunned by her peers, the creep who seduced her succeeded in killing himself on the night of the prom."

Rossi hummed as he read further. "Overdose. Good riddance then, uhm?"

"She dropped out of school, started working and loved the little girl with all her life."

"Any other relative? Jaycee's parents?"

"Both dead in a car accident long ago. Jaycee lived with an aunt but the woman was highly enthusiastic about the fact that she was finally alone again without having to deal with the '_devil's spawn'_, her words, not mine."

Rossi closed the file and handed it to Reid, who read it voraciously as the older man gazed towards the little girl with Emily.

"Alone, traumatized, unwanted. What does the future holds for that little girl if she is thrown in into the deep waters of the foster care system?" He mused, his mind churning with outcomes, none of them good.

Reid pointed to something on the file, his eyes moving restlessly. "Here it says that she had to have her tonsils removed at four and she has a very rare type of blood."

"Yes, she's AB negative." Garcia said, watching Reid attentively and almost seeing the cogwheels spinning in his brain.

"Reid?" Hotch inquired, seeing Reid staring blankly ahead as he weighted ideas in his mind.

"Joy's AB negative."

Rossi shrugged. "And?"

"So is McGee." Reid glanced up at Hotch and got a determined look in his eyes, just like the one he gets when he's solving a profile.

"That's just a coincidence. So what?"

"AB negative is a very rare blood type in Caucasians. Even rarer in Latinos. According to the American Red Cross only one percent of American adults have that blood type. What are the odds of three people, totally unrelated, could have the exact blood type?" Hotch caught the folder with the papers Reid trussed in his direction and watched as his younger profiler spun around and ran down the corridor, his eagerness spurning him faster.

"What are you doing?" Garcia shouted to his retreating back.

"Probably something stupid!" He said over his shoulder, disappearing down the corridor.

The three remaining on the corridor looked confused at the empty corridor, uncertain about what that was supposed to mean.


	102. Family

_**Chapter 102: Family**_

_**He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too.  
>Benjamin Franklin <strong>_

Reid had a plan. It wasn't a great plan, but it was a plan nonetheless. And if his plan didn't work out, there was always plan B which he hadn't quite figured out yet. But he was fairly certain that with enough cajoling, moaning and puppy eyes thrown in the right moments, plan A was good to go.

He slowed down as he turned the corner, almost knocking a nurse with a tray going into Jimmy and Temp's room. He deeply apologized as he spun out of her way, slowing down to a normal pace as he reached Joy's room. He took a deep breath and ran a shaking hand through his curls, feeling it catch in his fingers. He centered himself before he knocked on the closed the door.

He heard the scratching of a chair and heavy masculine footsteps approaching the door, which opened and showed the surprised face of McGee in the gap.

"Reid?"

"Hi McGee, may I come in?"

"Sure."

He opened the door and Reid entered, waving lightly at Joy who was resting comfortably against the pillows Hope had piled behind her back sometime during the day.

"Hey." She said smiling, receiving a shy smile in return.

Reid glanced nervously at McGee before lowering his gaze to Joy, who smiled gently and pointed to a plastic chair by her right side.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah… much better. The doctors said I'm bedridden until they deem the danger of another miscarriage is gone."

"I see." Reid looked down to his hands and started to play with his fingers, at the same time his legs moved restlessly up and down on his heels.

Joy exchanged a look with McGee, her eyebrows going up to her hairline and pointing to Reid. McGee sighed and folded his arms, looking at the younger profiler tiredly.

"Reid, do you have something to tell us?"

"Uhm…" Reid breathed deeply. "McGee, have you told Joy about Lynn?"

Joy's eyebrows went higher.

"Lynn?"

McGee made a good imitation of a fish, his gaze zapping between Reid and Joy before settling down finally on Joy again.

"Ah… it's not what you're thinking."

Reid glanced at Joy, who was staring at McGee with a calculating look. He surprisingly caught the looks and jumped in. "Ah… Lynn is eleven."

"Eleven?" Joy and McGee asked surprised.

Reid nodded vigorously.

Joy glanced at McGee, "You didn't know that?"

"No, she was barely speaking when we found her. She was scratched, wounded and covered with mud and rain." McGee shook his head, trying to dispel the images from his mind.

"Who is Lynn?" Joy asked.

"She is the girl Mara was using as a Servant in your place." Reid informed, seeing the shock blossoming on Joy's face.

"Servant?" Joy glanced at McGee.

"Mara kidnapped an orphan child and kept her recluse for the last ten months. She falsified the paperwork so the State thought the child was dead. As there was no one willing to claim the child, no one bothered to check the veracity of the documentation."

"What happened to her?" Joy asked interested as Reid shrugged.

"She's here." Joy perked up at that information, so Reid plowed further. "Just down the corridor. And we've just realized that we're facing a difficult decision: What about now?"

McGee and Joy frowned at Reid, so he continued, "She doesn't have near relatives as both her mother and father are dead. There's a distant relative who actually rejoiced when Mara told her the child and her mother were dead. The State is not even aware of her, as she was listed as deceased along with her mother and Mara and Martha's paperwork was nothing but through. She knows enough about Mara's dealings to be put into protective detail, but not enough for the Bureau to take over her file so she would be handed down the foster system, which undoubtedly would be unprepared, uncaring and insufficient to deal with a child whose traumas are equivalent to your own. So…" He paused, seeing the serious look on both of their faces and used his best puppy look, the one he used on Garcia when he needed help with computers. "I know it's a lot to take in right now and you've just came out of a great crisis here, but I was wondering if you two could take her in."

Joy froze at that offer while McGee raised a shaking hand to his hair, combing it with nervous fingers and making pressure as it went through his scalp, in a vain attempt to diminish the headache starting to blossom on his forehead.

"I know that you are about to have kids on your own but just listen to me. She's doomed if she's left to her own devices and her chances of having a normal life after what she's been through are close to zero if she's used as a Ping-Pong ball in the foster care system. She won't settle down. She will be shipped from one family to the other until she reaches majority, if she lasts that long because statistically kids like her end up becoming addicts, drug abusers or commit suicide before reaching adult life. She will carry this trauma for the rest of her life but…" Joy was still silent, looking at Reid with tear-filled eyes. "Joy, you've seen that before. _Hell, you've been through it._ You know nothing heals better than love, totally pure and unconditional. I don't know any other couple who could perform that miracle other than you guys." He looked up to McGee and found the older man completely unaware of the tears on his own face. "I've seen you two together and if there's a family out there in this whole world which could support her, care for her, _heal_ her, that family is you."

After his passionate speech, he stared at Joy for a few minutes in total silence, trying to convey the urgency of his petition. Joy sniffed as she gazed back at him, one of her hands distractedly playing with the thin cotton sheet covering her body.

"Reid… this is…huge…" McGee enunciated each word slowly, afraid to put into words his feelings.

"I would like to talk to my husband." Joy interrupted whatever McGee was going to say, finally looking up at him and arresting him in her gaze.

Reid immediately noticed the change in the atmosphere and wisely chose to make a strategic retreat while the couple studied their choices.

"Okay… then … I…" Reid noticed both McGees were barely breathing, their gazes fixed into one another completely isolating them from the world outside. "I will…. go… now" He pointed airily to the door, before rushing towards it in wide steps, opening and disappearing down the corridor, leaving the door to close only with a click.

"Joy, baby-"

"How _could_ you?"

"Joy, please listen-"

"How could you hide that from me? How could not tell me?"

McGee sighed and approached her bed, sitting on its side and gathering her hands in his. "You had a lot on your plate. The babies, the miscarriage, the rescue. I didn't think it would-"

"No, you _didn't_ think. You _didn't_ think at all."

"Joy, it's not that simple."

"No, Tim, it _isn't_. But it never really is, is it?" Joy freed a hand from his grasp to wipe her cheeks, before looking up at him again with clearer eyes. "How is she like?"

"Oh she's…" McGee squeezed her hand still in his grasp as he looked down to the floor, trying to capture the little girl from the river into words. "She's _cute_. She's got fair skin and these huge green eyes that take over half of her face, which she uses to stare adoringly at you as if you hold all the answers of the universe in your hands."

"Tell me more."

He chuckled and proceeded to tell her everything he knew about Lynn. About her green eyes and moppy muddy hair, her curiosity about the straps of his vest, how tiny she felt in his arms and how Mara tried to kill her dragging downstream. About shooting Mara and dragging Lynn to the river bank, about her sputtering water and hugging him as firmly as her thin arms could hold.

They laughed together and cried together, the seeds of an emotion slowly taking root in their hearts at each word spoken, each gesture. Joy watched how animatedly McGee spoke about the little girl, mentioning this or that detail before deflating again with the burden of the trauma and pain the little girl had suffered.

She squeezed his hand when he suddenly halted, his gaze glassy as he remembered the welts on Lynn's back, so similar to Joy's own back but terrifyingly fresh.

"She's so… _you_." He finished, lowering his head and allowing the tears to fall on the cotton sheet, until Joy lifted a hand until she gently swiped them away. He turned his head so he could kiss her palm, his tongue coming out to lick the salt of his own tears from her skin.

"My dad has always said …that there's a family you are born into and the one you gather in the way. The one you are born into…" She smiled as she rubbed her thumb over his cheek, feeling the light scruff appearing on his cheek, "… that one you can't choose. But the one you gather in the way… ah… that's a swift change in air, fire and wind as everything around you changes until your very existence depends on the constant contact with that specific person in order to continue. They simply… become part of who you are… slowly and inevitably." Joy leaned towards McGee, now her both hands going up and molding his face before her. "So I need to ask you only one thing: Can you walk away?"

McGee frowned at her question. "What?"

"Can you go on with your life, turn your back to her existence and never dwell on that again? Can you enjoy your life, your wife, cherish your unborn children and when they come into this world, can you promise you will not look at them and see the face of the child you've left behind?" Joy's tears were unrestrained now. "Can you follow Gibbs rule number 11?"

"_When the job is done, walk away."_ He muttered, his gaze lost in her eyes.

"Can you? I will follow your lead on this, but you have to be absolutely sure of your decision. I will love any child you put in my arms, whether they are fruit of our flesh or not because that's woman's instinct and I've longed for it my entire life. But being a father is not instinct. It's a decision here…" She gently touched his forehead before lowering her hand to his chest, putting a pressure right over his heart. "… and here."

His green eyes flickered before lowering to their still intertwined hands.

"Joy…" McGee shook his head, his gaze going up to meet hers as his voice came out in a choked whisper. "I _can't_."

She smiled shakily, her other hand moving from his cheek to the back of his neck, bringing him down so she could reach his forehead where she gently kissed him as if a benediction. He gasped and wrapped his arms around her waist, before lowering his head to her chest while she hummed and kissed his hair as he cried and gasped.

After soaking her hospital gown wet, he rubbed his head on her chest before raising his head still sniffing.

"Better?"

"Yeah."

"Good." She smiled brightly at him despite her own tears. "Now go outside and find Spencer. Tell him that I want to meet my new daughter."


	103. A family is born

**_Chapter 103: A family is born_**

The two NCIS agents waited with a certain amount of trepidation when the door opened and Reid came in, soon followed by Rossi holding a skinny blonde girl. She was dressed in a hospital gown and wrapped in a blanket in order to protect her from the chill of the infirmary as well as to hide the healing welts on her back.

She squirmed a little within Rossi's grasp, her curious green eyes landing on Timothy who was sitting by Joy's bed. The woman was resting against the pillows in a sitting position, her gaze equally curious about the little girl. She wiggled until Rossi left her go, settling her down on the floor. She walked towards the end of the bed, her hands still firmly gripping the blanket over her shoulders. Her gaze was curiously moving from Tim to Joy, a clear question hovering on her face.

"Hey, feeling better?" McGee asked the little child, squeezing Joy's hand into his and leaning towards the little child, trying to look as non-threatening as possible.

The little girl nodded silently, her dark blonde hair now clean and hanging in soft curls framing her face. Her gaze moved to the Joy, scrunching her nose a little as she saw the IV lines still connected to the woman.

"Lynn, I want to introduce you my wife, Joy." Squeezing Joy's hand, he motioned with his head to the little girl standing before them, "Joy, this is Lynn."

The little girl bit her lower lip and gazed from McGee to Joy, obviously curious but not willing to speak anything.

"Lynn is a beautiful name." Joy said, studying the skittish girl in front of them, seeing the same hurt and curiosity she could easily identify in her earlier pictures as a child.

"Mamma gave it to me." Lynn muttered, hugging tighter the blankie around herself, in an obvious show of discomfort.

"Wise Mamma." Joy glanced up towards the door where the BAU agents were all piled one on top of the other, watching anxiously the scene unveil before their eyes. "Listen, I've heard you've gone through an adventure. Would you be willing to talk about it?"

Lynn picked on her finger, gently scrapping the dirt underneath it. "The witch is dead."

Joy smiled. "It's always a good story when the witch dies in the end."

She nodded, her blonde curls bobbing at her chin as she moved her head. "Mr. Rossi was telling me about the stories of the wolf and little piglets. And how the wolf tried to blow down their house."

McGee chuckled, "I love that story too."

Joy motioned with a hand to Lynn, "Come here. Come closer."

Lynn struggled to hold on to the blanket one hand as she used the other one to dig a bugey inside her nostril. Once she was at arm's reach Joy batted away her hand and used the corner of her hospital sheet as a handkerchief, offering it to the little girl so she could clean her nose.

"Here blow." Lynn glanced McGee who just shrugged, a tiny smile playing on his lips. Lynn leaned over and blew her nose on the sheet, and after cleaning her nose Joy folded the sheet and used another part of it to wipe the little girl's face.

"Let me look at you." Joy's brown eyes met green eyes, both curiously studying the other. Finally Joy gulped and smiled, feeling her throat clench with emotion as she tried to find the right words in that very important moment.

"Listen, I have a very important question for you."

Lynn leaned her head to the side, watching the older woman attentively.

"Do you like dogs?"

"Dogs? I love dogs!" The girl almost squealed with excitement.

"Good. Because…" Joy glanced at Tim, a small smile playing on her lips. "… we have a dog. But we usually work a lot and he gets lonely."

"Poor doggie."

"And we need someone to keep him company. To feed him. To brush him and to play with him."

Lynn frowned, thinking hard about the obvious solution to their problem. She finally beamed at them, her blanket forgotten as she said excitedly. "I could do it. I could play with your dog."

Tim sighed theatrically, catching Lynn's attention. Once the little girl turned to him, he tried to look very serious but a small smile was still playing in the corners of his lips. "But there's a catch."

"Oh…" The little girl deflated visibly.

"You would have to live with us."

She looked interested again. "Oh…"

"I know you've just lost your mother. And you probably think that adults only want to hurt you." Joy said, watching the conflicting emotions being displayed on the little girl's face. "But we're the good guys. We…" Joy glanced towards Rossi, JJ and Emily, finally resting on Reid and Hotch who were all anxiously looking at them. "… we're the stuff the stories are made of. We hunt the witches and wolves and monsters… because we know they do exist. And someone has to do it to protect innocents like you."

She glanced with big green eyes towards McGee, who looked at her with tearing eyes. "Wanna live with us? If you do, we won't let any witch come close to you ever again."

Lynn's eyes were swimming with tears as she now gazed at Joy, who was smiling, her voice a mere whisper. "Promise?"

Joy offered her pinkie to the girl, "Pinkie promise."

Lynn giggled as she took the offered pinkie with her own. "Okay."

The agents by the door released a relieved gasp, unaware that they had been holding their collective breath since the beginning of the meeting.

"Why are you in bed?" Lynn glanced up to the tube and IV connected to Joy's hand.

"Ah…" Joy looked at McGee asking for his help.

He smiled and leaned over Joy, taking Lynn's tiny scratched hand and resting over Joy's tummy.

"You see, she's got hurt recently…" Lynn looked scared at Joy, so he rushed to calm down the little girl. "… but she's fine now. And we also found out that she's pregnant."

"Pregnant?"

"It means that I'm going to have babies." Joy said, her hand resting over Lynn's and McGee's hand. "And I'm going to get big and you will be a big sister."

"Oh…" She looked at her hand resting on the scratching linen of the sheets over Joy's tummy "There's a baby in here?"

"Babies." Tim said, "There are two."

Lynn looked startled to Timothy, her big eyes showing all her innocence typical of a child of her age. "But how did they get there? Did she eat them?"

The guffaws by the door were hard to be ignored, so Tim and Joy glared at the agents laughing before turning to the young child still looking at the place where her hand was resting before gazing up at them with curiosity.

"I'll tell you… later." Tim said.

Lynn pouted, frowning her forehead. "But I wanted to know now."

Tim gulped, noticing Lynn making her pout even bigger, her puppy eyes becoming brighter. Only when Joy started laughing that his concentration was broken, finding Joy's mirth refreshing after all they had been through.

"We're doomed." Joy said smiling at him.

He chuckled. "Oh yeah. Look at the bright side. She's out of diapers."

Joy shook her head, "But the terrible teens are just around the corner."

"Oh God."

"What are you talking about?" Lynn was looking confused from one to the other adult who were barely containing their mirth.

"Come here, lay with me and tell me all you like to do."

The little girl jumped on Joy's bed, jostling her a little and gaining a moan of pain from the freshly operated woman.

"Hey, careful. She's a little bit broken. Handle with care." McGee helped Lynn to lie beside Joy, her small blonde hair resting on the crook of Joy's arm.

"Do you like school?"

"I liked the singing. And coloring."

"Uhm… we'll figure out what to do with it, okay?"

"Kay." Lynn fidgeted until she could look up to Joy's face from her spot. "Miss Joy?"

"Just Joy, Lynn."

"Are you the other one?"

"Other what?"

"Servant." Both Tim and Joy tensed as the little girl asked that. Ignoring the tension on both adults, she kept on. "The witch said that there was another one and her daddy wanted to find her so he could hurt her. Did the witch's father hurt you?"

Joy frowned at that, thinking carefully about what to say. "Yes, but he can't hurt anyone else anymore."

"The Commander said that he..."She pointed to McGee."... and the other one would look after me. So he was right, wasn't he?"

Joy exchanged a teary glance with McGee before leaning to kiss Lynn's curly hair. "He's always right, kiddo. He's always right."

McGee and Lynn started to talk, he asking her about what her favorite colors and songs were and she answering with little shyness. Joy just smiled over their heads and glanced towards the door, where the agents were slowly filing away, leaving the brand new family to their own devices. First JJ and Emily left, soon followed by Rossi and Hotch, leaving only Reid by the door.

The young profiler nodded, his eyes bright with emotion and a big smile stretched on his face as he watched the young family before himself. Joy's gaze met his and she smiled brightly at him, mouthing a silent _thank you_ to him. He chuckled, biting his lip in order to control his emotions.

"You're welcome," he whispered.

Lynn tugged her arm, the little girl demanding her attention and giving him the change to slip unnoticed of the room. He met the approving glances of his colleagues, who one by one slapped him gently on the arm and left towards the exit of the infirmary, eager to tell the others the news.

Finally it was just him and Hotch, who was looking at him with a knowing glint in his dark eyes. Reid nervously played with his hands and fingers, unwilling to old under the older man's scrutiny.

"You did good, Reid."

"I…. I know." He looked up at Hotch, still lost somewhere in his own head. "It was… just the right thing to do."

"But not the easiest choice to make."

"No… but I realize now … this is right. This feels right. And they are exactly where they are meant to be."

Hotch smiled and put a hand on the skinny man's shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "I'm proud of you."

Reid's smile was blazingly bright, showing his surprise and delight in such a rare show of approval of the BAU leader. The older man squeezed firmly once before letting it go, directly Reid towards the same direction the others went.

"Come on, we have to find Garcia."


	104. At Arlington

**_Chapter 104: At Arlington_**

**_Four weeks later  
>Arlington National Cemetery<br>2:42 pm_**

The rustling of the reddish leaves being swept away by the wind surrounded the mourning procession slowly taking their seats on the white seats surrounding three coffins. One was of a normal size, meant for an adult, but right beside it there were two tiny white coffins, representing two children who would never see the day.

Men in somber black suits slowly took position next to ladies in their black attires, silently waiting for the beginning of the ceremony. Here and there men in gala white Marine's uniforms talked with the guests, indicating where each guest was supposed to seat.

Close to the coffins a line of nine empty chairs formed an arch. Beside each chair, nine cellos laid on the floor, their bows neatly lying on top of the instruments, just waiting for their players to take their places.

Gibbs approached the area followed closely by Tony, Ziva and Abby, all in black attires. He nodded to Ducky who was already sitting with the Buchanan group beside Jimmy and Temp, both still looking fragile and battered from their captivity period in Mara's hands.

Gibbs felt rather than noticed Joseph's gaze on him, then turned his gaze to the direction where his friend was sitting beside Maggie in her motorized wheelchair. After a prolonged stay in the hospital, the Buchanan patriarch insisted to be present on the memorial service. The knife wound had nicked a lung and created a whole mess of problems. He was still looking fragile, but thanks to the love and care of his family his recovery was a certain thing.

The older marine's attention went to a couple sitting huddled against each other just to their left. Matthew had his arms around Sarah McGee's shoulders, softly whispering in her ear as she stared forlornly at the two tiny coffins and left tears freely flow on her face. Those two also needed time to heal.

Once their little group reached the seats, they were welcomed by the Hotch and his team, who approached them and immediately offered a hand in greeting.

"Glad you could make it." Gibbs said to the BAU's leader who shook his hand firmly. Looking around, he was glad to see his own agents greeting the BAU team with handshakes and hugs.

"Neither one of us wanted to miss it." Hotch said solemnly, his sharp gaze observing both teams.

Both leaders looked towards Maggie, who sat like a queen in her wheelchair, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. They saw John in his gala uniform with Lisa and their two kids, Jake and Priscilla; Faith with Wilson were sitting beside Stephanie who had her little brother Daniel in her lap playing in a game boy; a deeply tanned man whose forefathers must have been Apache was holding a small toddler in his arms. He was sitting beside a beautiful blonde woman whose features were strikingly similar to Hope's. She must be Grace, the elusive sibling who lived in Utah. Mark and Luke were talking in hushed tones to the marines holding the bugles which would be played in the ceremony. Hope was standing beside her Air Force boyfriend, both in deep conversation with General O'Neil and some familiar faces from their visit to the Nellis base.

Gibbs looked around and couldn't find …

"They haven't arrived yet." Reid said, knowing exactly who the older man was looking for.

Gibbs looked at young profiler, who was wearing his usual combination of clothes in a black version, his messy curly hair falling on his forehead.

"Do you have any idea where they are ?"

"Joy mentioned something that she had to collect at the main station," Reid said nervously stuffing his hands in his pockets.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Both McGees were standing eagerly waiting for the train slowly gliding to a stop on the track. Beside them, little Lynn had a firm hold on Jethro's leash in order to stop him from running around the station, sniffing at every passenger who came into his nose proximity.

"I should have come alone," McGee muttered, seeing the exhaustion in his wife's face.

"No, I wanted to be here. No. I needed to be here."

Three months pregnant, Joy was starting to show her baby curves, taking to wear loose fitting clothing. She had so far a difficult pregnancy, with mandatory bed rest for weeks until the doctors deemed the danger of another involuntary miscarriage was past.

Thanks to that, she had taken Director's Vance suggestion at heart and had requested her admission on the family and medical leave act. She informed Gibbs that she wouldn't be coming back to the team as an agent at the end of her leave, but maybe in the future she could act only as a consultant.

That was one of the reasons why they held off the funeral of her biological father and their two little angels. Besides, they wanted everyone in the family to be in condition to be in the ceremony, and between Joy's condition and the wounds suffered by Joseph, Temp, Jimmy and Sarah, they've had to postpone it for a month.

"They're here." Lynn said, pointing to someone in the melee of people coming out of the Amtrak train.

A tall woman came out holding the hand of a teenager with long curly hair, who in turn held a leash of a huge grayish dog with difficulty. The teenager looked around the station in awe of its architectural design while the tall woman helped an elderly lady out of the train.

McGee looked down to Joy who seemed to be frozen on the spot, her eyes slowly filling with tears. He took her hand and silently squeezed it until she looked up at him, mute.

"Come on, let me introduce you to your family."

He gently pulled her after himself as he started to walk towards the three ladies on the tarmac, followed closely by Lynn and Jethro. The dog, sensing the proximity of another one, sniffed around and started to pull at the leash, forcing the girl to speed up her steps to follow him.

The McGee's approach was soon noticed by them, and the teenager with the dog broke into a grin at the same time that her pet beast started to bark excitedly.

"Mom, look! They're here!" She shouted as she tried to hold the leash of her huge dog.

Lynn rushed with Jethro and finally the two girls were mere feet away, each holding the leashes of their own dogs as they barked and sniffed each other the way dogs do.

"Hi, I'm Lorelei, but everyone calls me Rory." The young teenager said, studying the younger girl with curiosity, noting the bandages on her arms and the healing scratches on her neck, barely covered with a scarf.

"Hi, I'm Lynn McGee." The adopted girl shyly smiled, grinning wider as she looked down and found Jethro sniffing the butt of the bigger dog. "That's Jethro."

Rory smiled and put a hand on her dog's head, petting it and making it sit down on his hunches, making it be almost as tall as she was. "This is Hulk, but I call him H."

"He's so huge."

"Yes, he is. He's an Irish Wolfhound."

The adults looked at the two girls getting acquainted, smiling indulgently as they became friends right before their eyes. McGee moved a hand to Joy's shoulder and slowly guided her towards the older lady, whose face had tears tracks as she looked at the profiler with awe in her eyes.

"Dora, I would like to introduce you to Joy Buchanan-McGee, my wife."

Joy stood frozen before Dora, who let go of her oldest daughter's hand and moved to her long lost niece's side, her deeply veined hands shaking lightly as they approached her face and gently caressed her chin.

"You have Dylan's chin. But the eyes... ah, the eyes... I would have recognized them anywhere." Dora said gently wiping a tear from Joy's cheek.

"Ah... Hi… Aunt Dora." Joy was at loss of words, not knowing what was the most appropriate to say at that moment.

"No words are needed between family, my dear." Dora opened her arms and Joy promptly hugged the old lady, crying as a part of the puzzle of her past finally was unfurled before her eyes.


	105. King David's choice

**_Chapter 105: King David's choice_**

The McGees and the Knoxes arrived a few minutes later at the Arlington cemetery, guiding the few members of the Knox family to sit beside Joseph and Maggie. McGee nodded at Gibbs and Hotch, acknowledging both leaders before guiding Joy to seat between Joseph and Dora.

Once the newcomers were seated, the chaplain started a simple ceremony. Joseph would gladly have performed it, but he was still convalescing from his wounds and called a friend to do the honors. Joy's four brothers, in their Marine's uniforms, stood in attention beside three marines holding bugles.

After the simple words of the chaplain, the three marines took their position close to the coffins, while Joy's four brothers followed the flag ceremonial of folding it slowly and reverently, as the sorrowful music filled the air reminding those watching the ceremony of past fallen camarades.

McGee sighed and turned to look at Joy, stretching a hand to gather one of her fisted hands currently on her lap. He slowly opened finger by finger, until she relaxed enough so he could intertwine his fingers with hers. By the last accords of the bugle, he looked up and found her studying him, silently absorbing his strength. He gave her a faint smile and squeezed her hand, indicating that he was there for her. She smiled faintly and squeezed it back.

Once folded, Johnny took the flag and marched towards Joy, stopping at attention before her. She looked up at her brother who, impassively, reverently, offered the folded flag to her. She released McGee's hand and gently took the flag from her oldest brother's hand. He saluted her and marched towards the other side of the space, where the other three marine Buchanans were.

Joy looked up and felt all eyes on herself as she stood up with the folded flag, taking two steps until she stood before Dora, her biological aunt. Crying, Dora was surprised when Joy offered the memento of her father to her. Seeing her aunt's confusion, Joy insisted until Dora held the flag against her chest.

"You've been looking for him longer than me. You deserve this closure."

The chaplain finally announced that the last living relative wanted to say something, which immediately brought McGee to Joy's side, whispering softly in her year.

"You don't have to do this. Nobody expects you to do it." He gently moved a lock of her hair behind her ear, but she shook her head and grabbed one of his hands, squeezing it lightly.

"No, you're mistaken. I have to."

After a last squeeze of his hand, she released him and took a step closer, lightly touching the polished white coffin where the bodily remains of her father were, side by side of two little empty coffins, representing two lives which would never see the day.

She glanced around for a minute, finding her friends, colleagues and relatives all sharing that moment with her. So she took a deep breath and dove into it, aware that it was one of the most important moments of her life.

"King David, after his adultery with Bathsheba, was punished by his sin with the death of the child they had conceived in their adulterous relationship. He was the only man in the Bible named as '_The one after the heart of God'._ He knew that his prayers were answered by the Lord Almighty. But in that specific episode, he had to learn a very difficult lesson. Sometimes, God stays silent. Sometimes, you think He's ignoring you because there's no signs or revelations or prophets showing you the way. And sometimes He simply says _no_."

Joy looked at Gibbs, seeing him nod to her through her tears.

"David prayed desperately for that child. He ripped his royal clothing and covered his head with ashes, he fasted for days in God's tabernacle praying for God's intervention. He lowered his face to the ground and begged for His mercy."

Joy looked at Hotch, seeing the same shadow of grief in her old supervisor's eyes. "And yet the child died."

"We seek so many things in life and we are blindly indoctrinated that things will end up all right. Everything will be okay. The famous happily ever after. But most times that's not what really happens."

Joy gazed at Hotch and Rossi, standing by the BAU agents. Morgan was hugging Garcia, while Reid, Prentiss, JJ and Rossi were solemnly looking at her. "We are fired from the jobs we love."

Then she looked at her mom and dad, still recuperating from the wounds impetrated by the fake nurse, "Our house is invaded and destroyed by the very ones we had trusted to keep us safe."

"Friends betray friends. Families are destroyed by one single reckless act." Joy said that looking at Dora, who was hugging her oldest daughter and grandchild. Finally she lifted her gaze to Gibbs, who was silently observing the proceedings. "Your _only_ child dies."

"David, king of Israel and the most powerful man in that nation, had to learn his lesson. _God giveth, God taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord._ It's not easy to deal with loss. It's even harder to give praise to a God that seems harsh and unforgiving, who has ignored your most heartfelt cries for compassion when you were in the dirt, dressed with ripped clothing and covered in the ashes."

Finally Joy looked at McGee, looking at her with love, giving a side hug to a skinny blonde child half perched on his lap, who was softly scratching Jethro's ears who had laid his head on her lap.

"Yet King David, once he heard that the child was dead, left the temple, washed his face, his hair, changed clothes and went to the royal table, asking for bread. His counselors couldn't understand that reaction, as Jewish tradition dictated wailing and fasting after the death of a loved one."

"When questioned, King David simply told them that there was still hope while the child lived. The child was dead now, no more reason for weeping."

Joy wiped her face, before looking ahead as she continued her speech.

"So today, I'm facing King David's choice. I could tell you over and over how … _angry and hurt _I am … with the situation or how I wish things were different. But I'm not going to do that. Because sometimes there are no words. No clever quotes to neatly sum up what's happened that day... sometimes the day... just... ends."

She glanced towards Gibbs, who silently nodded as she continued, aware that half of those words were not only for her but for him as well.

"And you still have to go on to the following day. And to the day after that. And the week after that. Find strength to leave the bed and face a world that hasn't changed despite your devastating loss. And somehow, you still have to give Him Glory because He is God and just because you're facing loss it hasn't changed the nature of who He is. He doesn't owe you any explanations of his acts."

"So, in my darkest moment and from the depth of my despair, I want to give Him a sacrifice of praise. As I know there is no one like God, and ... how could I receive the good and not the bad from his Hands? Everything has a purpose. I…" Joy paused, looking with tearing eyes to McGee, and continued. "… I just haven't figured out the purpose for my loss yet."

She sniffed lightly, gesturing to Hope who stood up and waved at Grace and Faith. As the siblings stood up, soon followed by the boys. Joy continued as each Buchanan took a seat and gathered a cello. "I would like to invite my siblings, who might not share my blood and flesh but share my same soul. They've been through thick and thin with me, so I praise the Lord for the gift of the family who welcomed me and cherished me and… and healed me in so many ways."

The eight siblings were now ready with their cellos in position and bows in their hands, eagerly looking at Joy. She glanced at Joseph and Maggie, both looking proudly at her with shaky smiles on their faces.

"And I would like to praise the Lord for my parents who granted us the gift of music. Are you happy? Sing songs of joy and shout and dance. Are you sad and your soul weary? Sing louder, as loud as you can so your music might reach the heavens and touch the heart the Almighty. Don't ever stop the music… as within it angels dance and do their mighty deeds."

Having said that, she turned and walked the first cello in the half moon, taking the old instrument and prepping it. She glanced to her side and gave a little nod to Hope and smiled as all her siblings took position, bows moving to touch the strings ready to create music.

She finally closed her eyes, lifted her own bow and touched the strings, and a soft melody started to echo through the rows of white tombs in the Arlington Memorial.


	106. Nearer my God to Thee

a/n: Yes, I'm back.

As always, in order to increase the enjoyment of this chapter, please listen to the song the Buchanan siblings are playing.

You may find it in youtube as _Nearer my God to Thee by The Piano Guys (for 9 cellos)_. I have to admit that the whole story was written based on this song.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 106: Nearer my God to Thee<strong>_

_Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!_  
><em>E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me;<em>  
><em>Still all my song shall be nearer, my God, to Thee,<em>  
><em>Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!<em>

_**Adams, S.F. 1841**_

A mournful melody filled the air of the Arlington cemetery as Joy played solo the introduction of an old hymn that brought a small smile to her father's lips. Joseph glanced briefly to Maggie and squeezed her fragile hand lightly in his, trying to transmit strength to the woman who had shared more than four decades by his side.

The BAU stood in attention as the sorrowful notes floated in the air; Hotch's face was a stoic mask as one of his hands firmly squeezed his little boy's shoulder and Reid and Garcia shared a meaningful glance, before the now blonde tech reached to give the younger man a side hug which he gladly returned. The others stood in silent reverence as the other siblings joined in the melody.

Gibbs felt transported to another time, another place, silently seeing the story unfold as a movie before his eyes as the Buchanans kept on playing.

He saw a young marine trying to protect his little girl from a madman, just as he had promised the child's mother. Then he saw a tiny dirty child running in threadbare clothes around the edge a dirty pond, away from the house where untold horrors happened, towards a calm smiling man sitting on top of a log at the edge of the property, away from curious eyes and from anyone who could question such strange friendship.

He saw then the night of the FBI raid, the cruisers and the local PD advancing towards the house, taking over the land and finally that lone Federal officer was informed of the danger that child was in and, not taking into consideration to the dangers to himself, how he jumped into that pond and rescued a tiny little girl.

Based on the pictures of that time, he could clearly see the then younger agent Linderberg trying to talk to the little girl, coax her out of her shell, but finding only silence and shy glances towards him.

Yet still, he had been able to break through the language barrier. He had been able to connect and translate what she had seen into information and Swanson's empire was vanquished by a little girl in threadbare clothes and naked feet.

Gibbs wasn't the only one deep reminiscing the past. Reid's gaze was fixed on the movement of the bows, watching the horse hair touch the metal strings and bringing forth music, at the same time his mind struggled between the calculus of the sound waves being produced by the friction of the two elements and the long lost glimpses of the past his mind was insisting in blasting in front of his eyes.

He gulped as he saw himself, barely a man and mostly all arms and legs, pouring over one of Gideon's books about profiling in the cafeteria at Quantico as the very man himself approached him with a young woman behind him.

"Spencer, good to find you here." Gideon said, motioning for the young woman to come forward – she was older than Spencer but still looked very fresh out of Academy. "I would like to introduce you to a very dear friend of mine."

Spencer pushed his glasses back over the ridge of his nose as he took in the woman in front of himself.

"Spencer Reid, this is Joy Buchanan. She has just arrived from England and she will finish her training with us so she can join the BAU."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Buchanan"

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Reid."

"Dr. Reid, he already has a Ph.D." Gideon said looking proudly to Reid, who blushed deeply.

"Really?" Joy asked studying the younger man curiously as he fidgeted under her scrutiny.

"Yeah, I'm already working on my second one."

Joy looked at Gideon with a self-deprecating smile. "Another one of your strays?"

Gideon looked from one to the other, seeing the shy glances the younger man was throwing at her. "I only pick the best."

Hotch glanced towards McGee who was silently standing beside his teammates, his gaze firmly set on his wife as she transformed into music her sadness and pain and he was suddenly assaulted by the image of a short young woman walking into his office with a Georgetown university hoodie, asking in a low voice for Gideon. He then saw himself and the team welcoming the freshly graduated agent, setting her to work with this or that agent so many years ago.

He recalled the meeting with Gideon where she requested her transfer to LA, not once looking at her former mentor and friend during the whole interview and the quiet hurt in her gaze when she finally glanced in his direction before leaving the office never to return again to Quantico.

He remembered his distress several years later when he received the first reports of the kidnappings in LA, then the desperate search for two endless weeks that involved all BAU teams in the country looking for two of their own.

The rescue of the surviving victims and the one single shot that changed everything.

It was the beginning of the end of the LA BAU.

He read the reports and watched the recorded videos of the interviews with the agents on site, but nothing could have prepared him for seeing the tubes and the equipment keeping her alive just by a thread when he was called up for the Internal Affairs inquire.

And then there was shootout. The blood on the walls and the desks and glass partitions, forever tainting the LA office with the blood spilled of their agents.

So many lives lost… if they had just…

He blinked repeatedly, trying to dispel the stubborn tears gathering in his eyes and sighed loudly, catching the attention of Prentiss who silently moved closer to their leader and gently touched his arm and squeezed, giving him the strength to keep up.

And while all the agents around were immersed in their memories, McGee stoically glanced to the two tiny empty coffins, his mind struggling to put into order the jumbled mess of emotions, memories and images which were flashing behind his teary eyes.

He saw himself walking into that bar so many years ago and meeting Buchanan for the first time. How he was charmed by her quiet strength before her obvious pain which she was obviously trying to hide.

It was a strange mix of fascination and desire which led him to bring her to his home, his bed and his life. How she cried out and shivered in his arms, only to later let her walls shatter before his own eyes and share her pain and despair with him, a stranger who probably would never cross her path again.

His surprise in meeting her again at NCIS, the very shock of seeing her in his workplace and finding out that she was a Fed just like him.

Their first case, their first fight, their first kiss after they decided that yes, they should and would pursue whatever this thing between them was.

Then came other cases, other fights, other profiles and days and nights, either shared at the bullpen of NCIS under the scrutiny of Gibbs and their colleagues or shared in either his or her apartment.

Sweat, blood and pain shared; people trying to kill her or him; other unsubs or criminals always there which needed to be apprehended and cuffed and jailed.

And she was always there, silently watching over him and pushing him to be a better man, a better agent.

Their shared quiet despair as they sat down with Ducky after the first invitro which had failed. Then the next and the next until they all mixed together and became only one thing and they finally gave up.

Just to be granted a totally unexpected miracle when all hope was lost. In their darkest moment, when they both felt that that specific door had been forever closed, there was still a tiny speckle of hope.

But nothing comes without tears of pain and despair so at the same time they gained something, something was also lost.

So he glanced at his wife, seeing her playing the cello resting against her legs and the barely perceptible curve of her abdomen where their last miracle children rest, her eyes closed as she lost herself in the notes of the melody which marked the story of her life and her family.

The movement at his side remembered him of another miracle, this one unexpected and totally out of the left field, as Lynn leaned down to scratch Jethro the dog's head, receiving an adoring look and a lick from the big pet. She touched lightly the dog's cold nose before glancing up at him, blessing him with a delightful bright smile, showing no vestige of the captivity she had endured by Martha's hand in her bright green eyes.

Looking at the child by his side he saw himself once again at the courtyard of the hospital, staring at the end of the gun in Martha's hand as she used the child as a shield blocking their aim. He gulped as he saw once again the bright light of the hovering ship blind the insane woman, making her and the child stumble into the dark waters of the river behind them.

For a single moment he relived his desperate dive behind them, the cold which chilled him down to the bones and the sole certainty in his heart that, if he failed, he would never be the same again.

The struggle and the shots and the desperate swim to the river banks were all worthwhile to have the tiny shivering girl in his arms looking at him as her hero.

Lynn noted the saddened look in her now adoptive father so she stood up and grasped his hand, squeezing it lightly to catch his eye. Once he looked again at her, she smiled impishly, glad to see the shadows disperse as he looked at her.

The exchange didn't remain unnoticed by the matriarch and patriarch of the clan, who shared a meaning look before settling their gaze again on their children. Maggie fidgeted a little in her chair trying to get a more comfortable position for her back but she froze as her eyes fixed on something beyond her children.

Standing behind each one of them were tall soldiers – there was no doubt in her mind that those were warriors, she had worked her whole life with soldiers and she could recognize one just from the way the held themselves apart – yet these were something to behold.

Their faces were chiseled in stone, with high cheekbones and deep eyebrows, each dressed in pure white cloth which descended all the way to the floor. They had varying hair and eye colors but their build denounced their military background.

She opened her mouth to mention the strange soldiers to Joseph when she looked towards the BAU and NCIS and froze, seeing more of these soldiers standing by the agents in attendance.

She mentally grimaced at the state those soldiers were, as they had apparently taken a beating and were weary and wounded but still there by their charges.

She glanced around and noticed circles and circles of those strange soldiers in white surrounding the group at the funeral, as far as the eye could see, mingling with the guests as if they belonged there.

Joseph noticed her apparent distraction and squeezed her hand, silently questioning her about what was happening once she turned her gaze to his. She shook her head speechless and when she glanced to the front she was surprised to see a tanned man with flannel red shirt and jeans standing between the white coffins. He had tall cheekbones and blond hair which flowed down to his shoulders, his shirt was barely able to hide the power and strength and of those muscular arms which now were resting lightly on his sides.

As if feeling Maggie's gaze on himself, he looked up and met her yes. Those deep blue eyes held calm and wisdom, transmitting a sentiment of peace that definitely could not be defined as something found in this world. He finally smiled and looked around, prompting her to do the same.

It was as if a veil which had been permanently hanging over her eyes was lifted and from that moment she could see those soldiers being transfigured into celestial beings, forming lines after lines of angels surrounding the group in the cemetery.

Her gaze moved again to the blond man who had walked towards the angel standing by Joy, handing him a small trumpet in shiny gold. The tall bulky angel gave a mischievous grin, before walking around Joy still playing her cello and opening his wings. In seconds, he took flight and was hovering over the group several feet over the group assembled there.

The same reaction spread out through the others who one by one opened their wings and took flight, starting a circular formation over the humans below.

Guilo brought the trumpet to his lips and played a celestial song that resounded throughout the heavens. Its music reached the group gathered as the final notes of the melody was reached by the strings, mixing human and angelical praises. Despite the ugliness of death and pain they had witnessed, each felt a peace beyond understanding falling over their souls as the last note echoed through the cemetery.


	107. Is this how it ends

_**Chapter 107: Is this how it ends?  
><strong>_

_**The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it. ~Wendell Berry**_

"Is this how it ends?" Joy asked Timothy as they slowly walked out of the cemetery towards the cars, following the procession of agents towards the parking lot.

He gently squeezed her against his side, his arm comfortably resting over her shoulders as he observed the leaves slowly falling towards the floor in the wind.

The season was changing. Autumn was starting to color the leaves with rust and despite the clear skies a faint breeze could be felt blowing against their summery clothes. McGee looked appreciatively at figure, noticing she was already starting to wear loose clothes in order to show her baby curves.

"I don't know."

Reid was walking a few steps behind and, having heard the snippet of the conversation, smiled and shook his head as he hurried his steps in order to walk by their side.

"I don't think this is the end."

The couple turned to look at him without slowing their steps.

Reid looked to a point further down the road, where a single car was maneuvering up the lane towards the cluster of agents in the parking lot. Joy looked questioningly at Reid, who smiled at her before stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets and walking towards the BAU team.

Both Joy and Tim were confused at his behavior, so they followed him a few steps behind as they observed the car slowly roll to a stop in front of Hotch and Rossi. Gibbs, Tony and Ziva approached the FBI agents and started to talk animatedly with whoever was in the passenger's seat of the car, whose face was hidden from the McGees' sight.

A young man in his thirties came out of the car, his shiny bald head reflecting the sun as he walked around it. The agents took a step back and the young man opened the door, helping a frail looking old man out of the car. He was also bald, his face lined by many hours in the sun, his grey eyes framed by thick eyebrows that once must have been some other color but now were simply white.

Hotch held out his hand and the old man took the offered support, standing curved over himself. The young man held his other arm and guided him a few steps away from the car, so Rossi could shut the car door.

Joy froze a few steps away, staring at the frail looking old man with curiosity. As if sensing her scrutiny, the gnarled man stopped speaking to Hotch and turned his gaze to her. Joy immediately tensed as he studied her from afar, her fingers clawing McGee's arm as she felt a shiver run up her spine.

"Joy, do you know that man?" McGee asked in a soft voice, observing the byplay of emotions on her face as she stared at the old man.

"Tim... I …" Words failed her, so she simply decided to stay mute.

The old man finally smiled, turning to the youth he brought with him who offered a small parcel wrapped in colorful gift paper. He nodded briefly to Hotch and Rossi and started walking in very short steps towards the McGee couple. He had to lean heavily on a walking cane, dragging his right leg a little.

Reid smiled briefly at the man as he walked by him and stopped only when he reached his team and Gibbs' team who were all observing from a few yards away the long awaited meeting finally happening.

Timothy gulped as he supported Joy, noticing that the old man turned to glare at him, studying him carefully before showing a reserved smile. When his gaze finally rested in Joy's face, it became softer.

"I'm aware that I'm late for the wake and that you might not remember me. But I was hoping you would remember a common friend of ours."

The old man lifted his arm, his hand shaking lightly as he offered the cellophane wrapped parcel to her, its bright purple and yellow ribbons showing the delicate care someone put into preparing the gift.

Joy glanced at Tim who shrugged, pointing to the parcel silently saying, go ahead. She gently took the parcel from the old man's hand, being careful not to tear the delicate paper. She started undoing the ribbons, her gaze divided between the parcel and the old man who was observing her with a small smile.

Finally she undid the ribbons, the wrapping falling apart and revealing what was inside the colorful paper. Joy gulped as she saw the beautiful blue plush toy, lifting confused eyes to the old man before her.

He was teary eyed, but his face shone with a happiness that was indescribable.

"Unicorns are very special creatures, a little bit shy, but..."

She interrupted him, looking at him with fascination, "... whenever they strike a friendship with a mortal, it lasts forever."

"Good to see you, little one." Lindenberg said.

She took the little unicorn toy in her hands, hugging it against her chest. Tears started to fall unchecked from her eyes as she took two steps and engulfed the old FBI agent in her arms, crying against his neck.

He sniffed and smiled at McGee who was also teary eyed, observing the emotional meeting between the little girl and the man in the yellow coat, several years after their meeting by the shores of the Pit.

"Welcome home, kiddo. Welcome home."


	108. Home sweet home

_**Chapter 108: Home sweet home**_

The glorious sound of children's laughter and barking of dogs filled the air as people slowly came into the Buchanan townhouse in Georgetown. Wilson helped his mother-in-law into the music room where a small hospital had been set up, with all the necessary equipment needed to keep the matriarch duly medicated and comfortable during her stay in the house.

Joseph gently kissed Maggie's head and received a hand squeeze in return. He observed little Lynn approach Maggie's bedside, looking shyly at the old lady as Ducky organized her bed sheets and pillows to make her more comfortable.

Maggie noticed the curiosity in the eyes of the young child and gestured that she should approach her. Lynn glanced back at McGee who was moving some chairs into the music room, who nodded lightly granting her permission to obey the silent order.

Once she was in touching distance, Maggie offered her hand to Lynn, who glanced up at Joseph before taking another step and taking the deeply veined hand in her own. The little girl stared fascinated at the gnarled fingers and blue veined skin, one of her digits lightly following a blue purplish vein throbbing beneath the surface.

"Tell me, dear. Now that you are a Buchanan, what do you want do when you grow up?"

"I want to be a Federal Agent, just like Daddy Timmy and Uncle Tony and Grandpa Gibbs."

Maggie smirked and looked at Joseph. "Of course. Now hop in here, let's plan what you will have to study in order to be a great federal agent."

Lynn smiled brightly and lifted her arms, trusting Joseph to boost her up so she could sit on the edge of Maggie's bed. Once there, Maggie gestured that the little girl should lay down by her side, so they could be side by side whispering about future plans of the newest Buchanan-McGee who would terrorize the Federal Agencies in a future not too far away.

Joseph smiled as he watched them chatting amicably and looked out of the room through the window, finding a familiar figure standing in the garden scratching Hulk's shaggy head to the delight of the huge dog.

He looked around, found Ducky and Wilson watching over Maggie and Lynn and silently walked out of the room, going to the garden so he could talk to his long term friend.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

Gibbs walked around the living room and made a mental body count: Jimmy was lying in a comfy cot close to the cathedral windows with Temp, both whispering to each other spooning under a patchwork blanket in yellow tones. Johnny, Luke and Mark with Hotch and Rossi were standing beside the fireplace, a glass of lemonade in their hands as they laughed about some private joke only they understood. JJ, Prentiss, Garcia, Lisa and Hope was sitting at the sofa with Grace, both ahhh'ing at the little boy in her arms, named Phillip, who was basking on his aunties' attention.

At the table, Stephy, Jake, Daniel and Priscilla, along with Tony, Reid, Hotch's son and JJ's little boy, were playing some kind of board game, the sound of their laughter filling the air as Daniel squealed happily whenever he made another point.

By the noise and the delicious smells coming from the kitchen, Ziva was once again teaching Abby and Faith how to cook with oriental spices.

Shortly after arriving at the house, the McGees excused themselves and Tim took his wife to bed as she was starting to show clear signs of exhaustion. Pregnancy was taking a heavy toll on Joy's body, making her sleepy and achy at all times, so they've disappeared upstairs as soon as they entered home.

Matthew and Sarah were sitting in a love chair close to the dinner table, both too tired even to move from the position they were in.

Gibbs walked down the corridor of the towards the music room, smiling at the cute scene of Lynn chatting excitedly with Maggie, who would nod here and there under the benevolent eyes of Ducky and Wilson. His gaze finally landed on the garden, beyond the French doors where he could see Joseph petting Hulk with Jethro the dog by his feet.

He immediately tensed as he recognized the person talking to Joseph, so he surreptitiously left the house and walked towards the two men in the garden.


	109. This is worth fighting for

_**Ohhh for this chapter, the soundtrack is Hans Zimmer, Chevaliers du Sangreal**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 109: This is worth fighting for<strong>_

Joseph glanced up and smiled at his approaching friend, lowering a hand to scratch under H's chin getting a sloppy doggy grin in return.

"Jethro."

"Joseph."

"Glad that this nightmare is over."

"Indeed."

Both men looked at each other and stayed silent, each trying to ignore the other one standing just three feet away from them. Finally Gibbs couldn't take the silence anymore, trying to pretend he wasn't seeing what he was seeing, so he turned to the other person and smirked.

"I hope you are enjoying the quiet times."

Joseph tried very hard to keep his surprise in check, as he looked from Gibbs to the other person. He saw a small smile blossoming in the other man's face, before turning to Gibbs astonished.

"You... you can actually _see_ him?"

Gibbs smirked while Tal simply turned to the Buchanan patriarch. "God works in mysterious ways, Joseph."

The oldest Buchanan could only chuckle, finding a knowing smirk on Gibbs' face. The three men enjoyed a quiet moment as they felt the last rays of the sun bathing them, a light breeze whispering against the tall bushes which made the limits of the backyard separating it from the other properties.

Gibbs glanced towards the house, seeing Timothy and Joy talking to each other by the window upstairs, little Lynn squealing with joy as Tony danced with her in the music room; the typical sounds of a house filled of love and laughter.

"Now what?" Gibbs turns to Tal, seeing a gentle look in the warrior's eyes as he observed the several members of the family going here and there. "Is this the end you were expecting?"

Tal smiled mysteriously and looked at Gibbs. "This isn't the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. This is merely a beginning of many beginnings."

Joseph raised his eyebrows at that statement, but Gibbs wasn't very amused.

"I don't talk riddles. Don't like them either."

Tal laughed lightly, turning to Gibbs and folding his arms, his gaze piercing the old marine with a wisdom that could never belong to this world.

"Tell me, Jethro, how many lives would have been lost if Ziva had died in the same event that resulted in her sister Tali's death? Or how many lives would have remained unchanged if Tony had lost his life during his bout of plague?"

Gibbs felt a chill as Tal took a step closer, those deep eyes still firmly set on blue ones, digging through his soul and finding the doubts and worry, also the conviction of the importance of their tasks, no, their destiny.

"What about you? Your life has been held by a thread several times, but yet God refused to let Death's hand rip you from this existence as your task in this world is not over yet." Tal looked up at the window where Timothy was hugging Joy, slowly dancing to a song only they could hear.

"What about Timothy? He should have died when he crashed his car when he was sixteen, yet God interfered and once again his Plan has been fulfilled. One single piece in the puzzle which could have resulted in ripples too far into the future that human minds are never going to be able to fully grasp."

"Joy..." Joseph muttered, attracting Tal's gaze to him.

"How many lives would have been lost if that little girl had died by Swanson's hands? All of these happenings are so His word may be fulfilled as it is written in Isaiah 55.

_"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,  
>neither are your ways my ways,"<br>declares the LORD.  
>"As the heavens are higher than the earth,<br>so are my ways higher than your ways  
>and my thoughts than your thoughts.<br>As the rain and the snow  
>come down from heaven,<br>and do not return to it  
>without watering the earth<br>and making it bud and flourish,  
>so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,<br>so is my word that goes out from my mouth:  
>It will not return to me empty,<br>but will accomplish what I desire  
>and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."<em>

Gibbs looked back to the house, seeing Lynn playing catch with Tony, her squeals filling the air. He felt the truth hitting right between the eyes and chuckled as he made the connections which could be done only after having seen all the pieces of the puzzle.

"It was a rescue mission all along."

"As I said, God works in mysterious ways."

The angel closed his eyes and turned his face to the heavens, smiling placidly as he felt the praise of the saints rising as soft incense to the Almighty.

"For the Saints we will fight in order to deliver them from Evil until the fulfillment of the time set by the Almighty as the end." The angel opened his eyes and gazed at Gibbs. "This is a fight worth fighting for, Gibbs. Don't ever doubt that."

He turned his back at them and slowly walked towards the house, his presence shimmering lightly until he could be seen no more.

Both older men stood in awe in reverent silence as only the sounds of the night mixed with the joyful laughter echoing from the families reunited within that home. Music mixed with children laughter, soon dogs barking and loud chattering joined the party. A soft breeze blew over them lifting dead leaves from the floor and making them dance in the air in a perfect choreography.

"Jethro?" Joseph called out in a whisper.

"Yes, Joseph?"

The older Buchanan patriarch did not answer, so Gibbs turned to look at his friend, who was looking with tearful eyes to the skies, tears falling freely and leaving tracks on his rugged skin.

"They're dancing."

Gibbs then followed Joseph's gaze and momentarily lost his breath as his eyes and ears were miraculously opened, revealing myriads of angels singing and dancing in whirls and twirls in the air: the whole heavens were dotted with their silhouettes, their flight paths leaving a trail of brilliant dust and sparkling light, illuminating the dark velour of the sky as precious stones as far as human eyes could see.

Music in eerie tones was finally heard, the angelical melody resounding over land and heavens and hitting every heart opened and prepared to receive it.

Both patriarchs lowered their amazed gazes towards the house and saw a line of warriors standing guard around the perimeter, each holding a burning blade of fire in their hands ready for battle. Angels flew in and out of the house, each bringing or taking a small package in their hands. Inside the house, family ties were forged and strengthened; alliances were made and promises whispered; writing and rewriting history, preparing the path for a future yet to come.

"Joseph?"

"Yeah?"

"He was right." Gibbs muttered in a shaky voice, ignoring the tears leaving tracks on his face. "This is worth fighting for."

Sharing a knowing look full of meaning, each man slowly walked towards the house where their families waited for them so they could once again fulfill their destiny, under the starry night sky brightened by a celestial light that only those with ready hearts and pure souls would be allowed see.

**The end.**

* * *

><p>AN: Ahhhh *dances excitedly* I've finished it! I can't believe it. After several months I was able to finish this monster.

I would like to thanks my faithful readers who stuck by me since the beginning of these tales. I can't say how much I appreciate your support and your cheers.

When I started this monster, the status quo was quite different from today so I am proud to say that I'm not stopping here. Yep, there will be more JB stories for you, my dearies.

My Master's went down the drain so … well… let's say I have plenty of time to write and be happy now.

Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!


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